The subject of the sentence is "pile". It is singular, so "a pile stands". "Of magazines" is a clause that modifies "pile". If you wanted to say "stand", you would have to rewrite the sentence to make "magazines" become the subject: "Above a shelf stand magazines in a pile".

In that sentence, you would use "stands." "Pile" is a collective noun, and you're referring to the whole thing, not to its individual parts. That said, I think speakers of British English often use plural verbs with collective nouns in ways that speakers of American English don't. For example, I believe the British say "Parliament were in session," while Americans would say "Parliament was in session."

To me, yes, it's singular, especially in the sentence given. That said, in some cases, it could conceivably be plural, if we wanted to emphasize the number of magazines.

Hello, "Above a shelf STANDS a pile of magazines." "A pile of magazines" is one (single) pile, since 'pile' is singular it must have a singular verb. I hope this answers your question. If you’d like to practice speaking. I’d be happy to help you develop a study plan. Feel free to view my teaching profile and class offerings and send me a message if you think I can help you. Regards.

You should say 'on a shelf' if you mean that the magazines are on it ; 'above' would mean they were standing [or 'sitting' - the two have the same meaning in this situation] on something else.