presently: rather vague as to the extent of time: The doc will come ~.


shortly: quickly without avoidable delay: you will recieve the score ~ after the exam.


soon: without much loss of time: your sister will come home ~.


directly: little or minimal delay: after graduation, he went ~ to the company.


presently: 时间长短模糊， shortly:  没有可以避免的推迟，即尽快， soon:  没有大量的推迟，即没多会儿， directly直接: 最小延迟。


记忆方法： 1）按时间从快到慢: directly>shortly>soon>presently

           2）立刻的意思是过了一小会儿mean after a little while.