as a whole 意思為「總體而言、總而言之」;on the whole 意思為「大體上、基本上、整體來看」,兩者意思稍有不同,它們並不是同義字喔。
But for someone or something 的意思是「要不是、如果不是...的話」,相當於without、if it were not for 和 were it not for。