another definite article question

[slim1111]

First of all, I wanna thank Koronas for answering my first question

I have another question that just popped up in my head regarding

the usage of the definite/indefinite articles.

I was watching some BBC documentary about desert and the commentator

said that "Kangaroos hide in the shadow to escape the heat"

Heat was referred to as the heat of the desert but surely "shadow"

does not need to be preceded by the definite article since any shadow

would be sufficient? instead of "the shadow" wouldnt it correct to say

"shadows"? or do i need to apply one of those rules that I learned about

making generalizations, like

eg) The dog is a loyal animal
Dogs are loyal animals

Both sentences pretty much convey the same meaning and grammatically

correct. maybe "the shadow" = "shadows" in this case?

Also, what's the idea behind saying "on the move" or "on the attack"

in sports, war, etc? what grammatical rule constutues such usage?

Thanks in advance

[Pedroski]

"Kangaroos hide (in the shadow) to escape the heat" Good
"Kangaroos hide (in shadow) to escape the heat" Good.
"Kangaroos hide (in the shadows) to escape the heat" Good.
"Kangaroos hide (in shadows) to escape the heat" Good.

The bit in brackets is an adverbial. You can leave it out of your sentence, and the sentence is still ok.

(in any old shadow they can find) (in cool shadows) (in shadows round the bilabong)

The preposition 'in' wants an object, but I don't think it minds if the object has a 'the' in front or not here.

'in the cupboard' Here, I would not write *The cups are in cupboard. Why?

[slim1111]

thanks for the reply

just one follow up question,

how do they differ in meaning if i write
kangaroos hide in "the shadow" to escape the heat

instead of

kangaroos hide in "shadows" to escape the heat

will there be any significant or subtle difference between the two?

[Pedroski]

Maybe you should ask BarbaraD that, she has a keener something. I would tip that there is not one shadow, the shadow, but lots of shadows. The shadows of the rocks, the trees, the cliffs, the hills, the valleys, the road signs which say 'kangaroos for 500 miles'. Any old shadow will do, as long as you don't have to roast in the blistering sun!