"Wal-Mart says it wants to double its stores in China by the end of
2006 to close the gap on its rival Carrefour. -CNN
I'm unsure if the preposition 'on' was properly used in the line quoted above. Shouldn't it be something like 'close the gap between it and its rival'?
Best Answer
To "close the gap on something" is a valid phrase, when only the object ("something", usually a [proper] noun) is specified.
If you use 'between' then you need to reiterate the subject as well as specifying the object
Using 'with' sounds a bit odd: