BITTMAN “BAD FOOD? TAX IT, AND
SUBSIDIZE VEGETABLES.
Set Up Your Notes
Name
Date
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Assignment #26: Bittman’s Vocabulary
Essential Question: How can I develop my vocabulary? (L6)
Assignment will include:
• Vocabulary
• Sentence frames
• Questions 
Summary
Vocabulary:
one way to build a bigger vocabulary is
to copy down definitions
• Tax: A non-voluntary payment to the state/government.
• Sales Tax: a tax that is paid by the consumer at the
time of purchase-this makes the product more expensive
to buy, but still cheap to produce (we know what the
sales tax is, but do not visually see it on the price
tag-- $.99)
– Ex: food
• Excise tax: a tax that the producer/manufacturer pays
(this makes it more expensive to produce, and then in
turn more expensive to buy $1.07) (There could be/
still is state tax on top of excise tax)
– Ex: Cigarettes
• Subsidize: financial support; to help someone pay the
cost
– Ex: The government wants farmers to keep making corn, so
they will pay farmers/ provide farmers with support, so
that the farmers can afford to keep growing the corn.
– Ex: Obama care– the government will help pay portions of
health benefits for those who are needy
• Indirect subsidy: when a business benefits from another
person/company receiving a subsidy
– Ex: Farmers receive a subsidy to grow corn– they have
too much corn, and corn is cheap– so Coke benefits by
being able to buy corn cheap and therefore make their
product cheaply.
• Deficit: the amount by which a sum of money is too small
(in other words, how “short” we are)
– The issue people often see with subsidies is, if we are
already in a deficit, how can we afford to give more
financial support?
– They have to figure out if the cost of the subsidy, will be
made up in savings (less spent on health care, less spent on
prisons, more consumer spending generating more taxes, etc)
• Government: an office designed to over see and run the
country effectively with the people’s best interest in
mind
– The issue– who’s best interest? Democrat or Republican?
Minority or majority? Wealthy or Poor? Person or Business?
– One of their responsibilities is public health
• Ex: Surgeon’s general warning on cigarettes.
Reminder
Claims: what the author is trying to
prove.
• Major claims (thesis, overall argument),
• Minor claims (smaller arguments that
support the major claim, think topic
sentence),
• Counter claims (what the opposition
would argue)
Reminder
• Organization: Problem-solution
– Problem would be introduction, background
– Solution would be a claim that he wants
to prove
• Problem would also be the claims with support
• Solution then part of the conclusion
• Read through Bittman’s text “Bad
Food? Tax it, and Subsidize
Vegetables”
• As you read, annotate:
– Claims
• Hint: he gives us subheadings- how
can we turn these subheadings into
actual minor claims?
– Evidence
• Focus on statistical (numbers,
research, data)
• Focus on analogical (comparisons)
– Vocabulary words you just defined
or other words that you want to
learn
• A second way to build vocabulary is
by seeing words in context.
--Sentence Frames-using vocabulary words
1. Bittman argues for a tax on________,
but __________________.
2. Bittman feels it is the government’s
job to _________, and history shows
that the government has ___________
3. Bittman knows that a subsidy would
_________________ while taxes would…
Questions
1. What is Bittman’s major claim? In
which paragraph is it located? What
reasons (minor claims) does he provide
in order to explain why his major claim
is true? Are these good reasons?
Questions
2. There are 5 paragraphs where Bittman
clearly addresses the opposition and
various counterclaims to the idea of
taxing bad food. In which paragraphs
does he address the opposition? What
are the counterarguments?
Questions
3. Does Bittman provide evidence to
convince you that a tax on soda will
benefit us econimally by generating
extra revenue?
Questions
4. Does Bittman convince you that a tax
could effectively work at lowering our
consumption of bad food?
5. If the tax worked and we ate less,
do you think it would be economically
beneficial/ raise enough money in
taxes?
6. Does Bittman fairly and unbiasedly
address the issue? Does he make it seem
harder or easier? Worse or better? Etc.
Set Up Your Notes
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Date
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Assignment #27: Bittman’s Writing
Essential Question: What stylistic choices does Bittman make? Do they affect his
argument (tone, ethos, clarity)? (CCSS R.6, L.3)
Assignment will include:
• Chunk the Text and questions
• Style Questions
Summary
• Read through Bittman’s
article.
• As you read, label the
chunks/ sections of the
text:
– Paragraphs 1-5
– Paragraph 6
– Paragraph 7-8
– Paragraphs 9-10
• If you had to give each
section a “title” what
would that title be and
why?
• Paragraphs 1-10 all
belong together.
• Despite their smaller
titles, what do all of
these paragraphs
focus on?
• Read through Bittman’s
article.
• As you read, label the
chunks/ sections of the
text:
– Paragraph 11
– Paragraphs 12-15
– Paragraphs 16-18
– Paragraph 19-20
–If you had to give each
section a “title” what
would that title be and
why?
• Paragraphs 11-20 all
belong together.
• Despite their smaller
titles, what do all of
these paragraphs
focus on?
• Read through Bittman’s
article.
• As you read, label the
chunks/ sections of the
text:
– Paragraphs 21-22
– Paragraphs 23-25
• If you had to give each
section a “title” what
would that title be and
why?
• Read through Bittman’s
article.
• As you read, label the
chunks/ sections of the
text:
– Paragraphs 26-29
– Paragraphs 30-32
• If you had to give each
section a “title” what
would that title be and
why?
Questions:
1. In general, on what kind of evidence
does the text rely? Provide examples.
2. What are two of the major shifts in
the article?
3. Does paragraph 11 belong at the end
of the introduction, or at the
beginning of the section “justifying
taxes? Why?
Questions
• Tone
– “to counter arguments about their
nutritional worthiness, expect to see
‘fortified’ sodas… and ‘improved’
junk foods.” (Para 24)
1. Why is “fortified” and “improved” in quotation marks?
Questions
• Tone
– “(Yes, it’s SAD)”(Para 1)
2. Why is SAD in all caps?
3. Why is this in parenthesis?
4. How does this affect his tone?
5. How does this affect his ethos?
• Structure and clarity
– Para 25 “there are predictions of job
loss at soda distributers, but the same
predictions were made about the tobacco
industry, and those were wrong.
6. What conjunctions are being used? How many “parts”
are there to this sentence? What is the subject and verb
of each part?
• Structure and clarity
– Para 25 “there are predictions of job
loss at soda distributers, but the same
predictions were made about the tobacco
industry, and those were wrong.
7. How is part one related to part two? (sequence,
compare and contrast, problem solution, description,
cause and effect?)
8. How is part two related to part three?
9. How is part one related to part three?
• Structure and clarity
– Para 22 “the Historic tobacco
settlement, in which the states settled
health related lawsuits against tobacoo
companies, and the companies agreed to
curtail marketing and finance antismoking
efforts, was far from perfect, but
consider the results.”
10. Is the subject near the beginning of the sentence?
What is it?
11. Does the verb immediately follow the subject? (if so,
what it is? If not, what DOES follow the subject?)
• Structure and clarity
– Para 22 “the Historic tobacco
settlement, in which the states settled
health related lawsuits against tobacoo
companies, and the companies agreed to
curtail marketing and finance antismoking
efforts, was far from perfect, but
consider the results.”
12. How many “parts” are there to this sentence? What
“parts” are the most important?
13. Simplify- what is the subject and verb (what are the
subjects and verbs)?
Testing/ Editing tip
• Structure and clarity
– Para 22 “the Historic tobacco
settlement, in which the states settled
health related lawsuits against tobacoo
companies, and the companies agreed to
curtail marketing and finance antismoking
efforts, was far from perfect, but
consider the results.”
Testing/ Editing tip
• Structure and clarity
– Para 22 “the Historic tobacco
settlement, in which the states settled
health related lawsuits against tobacoo
companies, and the companies agreed to
curtail marketing and finance antismoking
efforts, was far from perfect, but
(we should) consider the results.”