I think there is a shift at “...assured him”. From reading the beginning, you would think the person is under arrest, “stay where you are”. But, the sentence goes on to say that the police officer ‘assured’ him that. He could’ve been in danger, so the officer was telling him that help was on the way, just stay put.
I believe the dependent variable in this experiment is the time for salt to dissolve since it <u>depends</u> on the speed of stirring (independent variable).
