Question

the time travelers guide to elizabethan england
by ian mortimer
chapter one
the landscape
different societies see landscapes differently. you may look at elizabethan
england and see a predominantly green land, characterized by large open
fields and woodlands, but an elizabethan yeoman will describe his
homeland to you in terms of cities, towns, ports, great houses, bridges,
and roads. in your eyes it may be a sparsely populated land—the average
density being less than sixty people per square mile in 1561 (compared
with well over a thousand today)—but a contemporary description will
mention overcrowding and the problems of population expansion.
describing a landscape is thus a matter of perspective: your priorities
affect what you see. asked to describe their county, most devonians will
mention the great city of exeter, the ports of dartmouth, plymouth, and
barnstaple, and the dozens of market towns. they will generally neglect to
mention that the region is dominated by a great moor, dartmoor, two
thousand feet high in places and over two hundred square miles in
expanse. there are no roads across this wasteland, only track ways.
elizabethans see it as good for nothing but pasture, tin mining, and the
steady water supply it provides by way of the rivers that rise there. many
people are afraid of such moors and forests. they are “the ruthless, vast
and gloomy woods... by nature made for murders and for rapes,” as
so good because it thins the blood. he also thinks that spices and
vegetables are bad for you.
why does the author use the second - person point of view in this excerpt?
the author wants to create a convincing argument.
the author wants to present factual information
effectively.
the author wants to help the reader relate to the
subject thoughtfully.
the author wants to describe the time period
accurately.

Explanation:

Using second - person point of view (addressing "you") in the excerpt from "The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England" makes the reader feel directly involved in the discussion about how different people view the Elizabethan England landscape. It invites the reader to put themselves in the situation of observing and understanding the landscape as described, thus helping the reader relate to the subject in a more thoughtful way. Creating a convincing argument is more related to persuasive techniques like using evidence or logical reasoning, presenting factual information effectively is about clarity in conveying facts, and describing the time period accurately is about historical accuracy in details, none of which are the main purpose of using second - person here.

Answer:

The author wants to help the reader relate to the subject thoughtfully.