"Her whole family IS/ARE biologists"? [duplicate]

I'm not sure whether to put is (number agreeing with the singular her whole family) or are (number agreeing with plural biologists) in this sentence:

Her whole family is/are biologists.

After some more searching, it seems to make it correct, the whole would need to be removed.

Based on this other question, I think "Her family are biologists." is technically correct but "All of her family are biologists sounds better."

Still not certain.

I would use "are" in this context, even though the word "family" could go either way. Even so, I think that "are" is more suitable because you are labelling multiple people as biologists.

However, the sentence could be worded in a better way, like: 1) Everyone in her family is a biologist. 2) All of her family members are biologists.

That way, there is less confusion with verb agreement. Either way, it is good to know that either "are" and "is" can be used with the unit "family".

In your specific case I would say "are". It is not a property of the family to be biologists, rather you are using the group as a way to designate that all its members have some property. Interestingly, you could confound the issue by saying, colloquially, "Her whole family's biologists".

A related question would be whether to use plural or singular when talking about a group that is doing something. Is Manchester United in town or are MU in town?

The answer depends somewhat on whether you follow US or UK usage, but is unclear. You can often get away with either. The UK usage leans towards using a plural, while the US is a bit mixed. Nirvana is playing, but Nirvana are arriving late.