"A pair of shoes" is single or plural?

Definitely singular. In this case you are referring to the pair as a single entity. You can do this because in common usage both a right and left shoe are used at the same time, so you are referring to one "pair", or group, of shoes. For plural you would say "many pairS of shoes". However, if you wanted to talk about a jumble of shoes, you'd say "there is a shoe" or "there are many shoes"

In the past pants used to come individually, one for the left leg and one for the right, which were then laced together. Like with shoes, you COULD use one individually, but you'd look pretty silly. So a pair of pants was singular to reflect the single pair, not a single pant. Then they started sewing them together so now it's obvious we have one pair of pants.

singular, because the pair make up one item, just because there are two shoes doesn't mean it is plural because you can't wear just one shoe. It take both of them to work.

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- I bought a pair of skis yesterday. It was expensive. This employs the more formal, more technically correct antecedent. This is the form I would recommend that you use in a scholarly setting. The antecedent of "it" is the pair. "Pair" is the direct object of the preceding sentence. Formal grammar suggests that the direct object is a better choice for antecedent. - I bought a pair of skis yesterday. They were expensive. This uses the less formal, more conversational antecedent. This is a form that I wouldn't notice as an error in most circumstances. The antecedent of "they" are the skis. Although the skies are buried deeper in the grammar of the sentence (they are the object of a prepositional phrase which happens to modify the direct object) they are closer to the main idea. You bought skis, which happened to be sold in a pair, rather than buying a pair, which just accidentally consisted of skis. Is it more correct to say "they"? Certainly not. Is it more usual, more familiar, less startling? Yes, I think it might be. I will not say that "they" is more correct. I will say that "they" is more natural. Even in the oddball situation where the pair is physically one object (a pair of scissors, a pair of tongs, a pair of pants) I find myself much more likely to say "they" than "it". Grammatically, "pair" is always singular. However, the object of the preposition is often the more natural, plural antecedent.

I think that "a pair of shoes" is single because it's only one pair!?

singular! Because "A pair" is the object or WHAT you are talking about and "of shoes" is the adjective prepositional phrase describing the pair.

I believe it would be singular, because the subject is 'pair', not 'shoes'.

singular b/c it's talkin about 1 pair

singular. it's 1 pair.

Singular, it's one pair.

Plural.