Manage or manages

[tufguy]

Hi guys,

Please check this sentence,

"The boy along with his mother manage or manages to complete all work".

 

[Raymott]

"The boy, along with his mother, manages to complete all the work". That is, "The boy manages to complete the work along with his mother." I think there are always better constructions than "along with". Why not simply, "The boy and his mother manage to complete all the work"? In my experience, this "along with" phrase occurs more often in grammar books testing the subject than it does in real life.

Here's some more clues regarding this:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm