Abstract A manufacturer of a product that transports, processes, and packages bulk materials with a pneumatic process sued a competing manufacturer that uses a screw process using the latter company's advertising, which compared and evaluated the two methods, and charged that these advertisements constituted a deceptive trade practice. The plaintiff claimed that in these advertisements the defendant not only made false, misleading, and disparaging comments but also failed to reveal the industry data, studies, statistics, and other information that might substantiate its claims. Syntax analysis of these advertisements revealed that in these advertisements the verb tenses indicated that the defendant did not claim that comparisons with other types of conveyors were based on studies or tests. Semantic analysis of the word “ratings” conveys that this word indicates a subjective estimate or comparison, one not requiring research or tests. It also showed that the terms used in the comparisons (best, good, fair, poor, worst) are used regularly to indicate attitudes, beliefs, or dislikes, as opposed to the numerical, statistical measures of qualities that are used in reporting research findings.