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There are a couple of sentences:

The water froze and caused the pipe to burst.

If it is a succession of past events it should be Past Simple. But if the first part happened earlier, it should be : The water had frozen and caused the pipe to burst.So, can it be Past Perfect, or this sentence must be written in Past Simple?

Year by year the population of the West increased.

Should it be increased (Past Simple) or was increasing(Past Continuous) ? Because, I guess, Past Simple does not belong here .

I don't know which tense to choose. There is no extra context, just sentences on their own.

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  • Both of these are ungrammatical: "The water had frozen and caused the pipe to burst." — "Year by year the population of the West increasing." (Note: you might be able to get away with the first one, but only by assuming you really mean "and had caused the pile to burst." Best to keep them both in the same tense.)
    – ralph.m
    Commented Jun 8, 2023 at 5:55
  • There are 2 separate questions here. The second (increased/increasing) is unrelated to the first (about succession of two actions).
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jun 8, 2023 at 13:31
  • Thank you, if the sentence starts with " year by year!" , it is the indication of Present Continuous, isnt it? So, we can't say " Year by year the population of the West increased" .We must say "Year by year the population of the West was increasing". Am I right?
    – Jess3032
    Commented Jun 11, 2023 at 8:43

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