They both advised me to run away to the north; that i should find friends there, and that i should be free. i pretended not to be interested in what they said, and treated them as if i did not understand them; for i feared they might be treacherous. white men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters. … i nevertheless remembered their advice, and from that time i resolved to run away. question: in the above excerpt, which words best establish immediacy? a) "white men have been known to encourage slaves to escape." b) "… that i should be free." c) "i pretended not to be interested in what they said." d) there is no immediacy.

“That I should be free”

Explanation: Immediacy means content of the mind that require urgency. “That I should be free” from the above excerpt best establish immediacy, because the main purpose the advice was given, was because of freedom. From the time the advice was given, despite the fact that slave does not trust those who advised him because they might be doing that for their own personal interest, yet the slave had resolved to run away so as to be free again.

hi,   i believe the outlines that were supposed to be showing at the sentences, are not. could you highlight them somehow?

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.