student asking question

Is “on the whole” a general expression?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"On the whole" is not a very common expression. "On the whole" means in general or taking everything into account. Typically, you will hear "in general" or "overall." Here are some example sentences of "on the whole." Ex: On the whole, the children are doing really well. Ex: The cats are doing really well on the whole. Here are the same sentences, except using the more common expressions. Ex: In general, the children are doing really well. Ex: The cats are doing really well overall. You can use any of these expressions, however "on the whole" isn't as commonly used as the other expressions.

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