Q:

"My brother along with his wife was present in the party" or "My brother along with his wife were present in the party"? 

Possible Duplicate:
X, along with Y, 'were'/'was' 

Could someone tell which one is appropriate in the following sentence?  

My brother along with his wife was/were present in the party. 

A:

"My brother was present at the party" : Singular
"My brother and his wife were present at the party": Plural. 
"My brother, along with his wife, was present at the party": Singular. 
If you put in the commas to avoid doubt, then 'was' is right.  If you use 'along with' as a substitute for 'and' with no commas, then 'were' is probably acceptable but will cause people to wonder, so best to avoid it. 

A:

The subject of the sentence is my brother.  Along with his wife is an adverbial, telling the reader more about him.  It follows that the verb must agree with my brother and be singular.  So, My brother along with his wife was present in the party. 
The verb would, however, be plural if the subject was the coordinated my brother and his wife.