shed (some) light on something
and throw (some) light on somethingFig. to reveal something about something; to clarify something. (Also with any.) This discussion has shed some light on the problem. Let's see if Ann can throw any light on this question.
shed light on
Also, throw light on. Clarify or explain, as in I was hoping the professor would shed light on how he arrived at his theory, or Can anyone throw some light on where these plants came from? Originally, from about 1200, these expressions were used literally, in the sense of "illuminate," but they soon were used figuratively as well.
throw (or cast or shed) light on
help to explain (something) by providing further information about it.shed light on, to
To explain or clarify. This term was used literally, in the sense of illuminating something, from the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century light came to be used figuratively for “understanding.” George J. Adler used the expression in his translation of Fauriel’s History of Provençal Poetry (1860): “On these antecedents that I shall first endeavor to shed some light.”