"A system" is considered singular or plural? [closed]
Perhaps the highest-profile display of the technology’s potential came in 2016, when a system built by DeepMind, a London-based ai firm owned by Alphabet, Google’s corporate parent, beat one of the world’s best players at Go, an ancient Asian board game.
I am expecting the verb "beat" to be "beats" since "a system" is singular. Can anyone explain why it is "beat"?
Because it's in the past.
"He beats me when he plays me" is present, but "He beat me in 2016 when he played me" is completely correct.