The purpose of this study was to find out how well Swedish pupils succeeded in their use of the progressive verb forms. A comprehensive research has been carried out in the area of second language acquisition, in which an interest in the order of acquisition of a second language as well as verb forms also was included. The material for the study was collected from second year pupils at an upper secondary school and consisted of two consecutive writing assignments. The first assignment was preceded by the teaching of the progressive verb forms, which the pupils were implicitly expected to use in their writing. In the second assignment, no grammar lessons were given prior to the assignment. A comparison of the evolution of the use of the verb forms mentioned was then conducted. The result indicates an increase of an accurate use. One conclusion that can be drawn is that learner strategies and motivation are beneficial to second language acquisition, as well as learning a more accurate grammar.