Future Progressive Tense vs. Future Simple Tense

1- A) Future progressive tense is used to indicate that an action or event will be taking place or going on at some time in the future :

- I will be taking my math exam next week.
- This time next week I’ll be flying to Rome
- We'll be leaving next Monday.
- When you arrive, I'll be writing my homework.
- I will be working with my computer for six hours.

B) Will occur repeatedly:

- He will be giving his wife flowers every week.
-They will be doing exercises every day.
- He’ll be studying his lesson two hours a day.

2-The Future Continuous can be used when we talk about an activity or an event that will extend during a period of time from now into the future.

- He will be playing football until 6o'clock.
- She will be watching TV until her mother arrives.

3-To refer to actions/events that happens in the normal course of events during a future period of time.

- I'll be seeing Jim at the conference next week.
- Will you be using your camera this evening?
- I'll be seeing Jane this evening - I'll give her the message.
- When I arrive at the station, my parent will be waiting for me.

4-A) We use the future continuous to predict what is happening now:

- We will be relaxing on the beach at this time next month.
- Next winter, we will be enjoying skiing on the mountains.
- Don't call him now, he’ll be doing his homework.
- I’ll be learning computer next week.
- Try phoning his house. He'll probably still be having dinner.
- She will be deciding which country to choose for her next destination.

B) It is also used to make sympathetic predictions about someone's feelings:

- He'll be feeling disappointed after such a great failure.
- You'll be needing more food after such a hard work.

5- We use the future continuous to ask extremely politeness about someone's plans (without wishing to influence those plans).

- Will you be watching TV this evening?
- How long will you be staying in the hotel? (You simply want to know how long he will be in
the hotel)
- Will you be coming with us to the club this evening?
- Will you be needing anything else?
- Will they be joining us for dinner?

6-We can use future progressive to talk about future events or plans that are fixed or decided.

- He will be looking after the factory until I appoint a new manager.
- I'll be visiting your country on a regular basis. In fact, I'm going to be coming next month.
- We will be living at 10 o’clock tonight.

7- We can use the construction to indicate that an action in the future will be interrupted by another action which is shorter than the first one.. ( the shorter action in the future is expressed with Present Simple or sometimes with Present continuous, in this sense it is usually associated with "when,while,as soon as,..." ):
- I’ll be studying English when she arrives.
- She‘ll be playing a game when he arrives .
- I'll be making dinner when he is watching TV.

Notice that:
The future continuous tense is not very commonly used as other sentences, and we can sometimes replace it with tenses such as simple future, present progressive or even simple present.

-I will be writing in a few minutes.
-I will write in a few minutes.
- I'm going to write in a few minutes.
- I'm writing in a few minutes.
- I write in a few minutes.

A) Like all future forms, the Future Continuous cannot be used in clauses beginning with "when", "while", "before", "after", "by":

- While I 'll be watching TV. he will call.( incorrect)
- I'll be watching TV while he calls.(correct)

B) Use adverbs like" by the time" and" tomorrow/next week/next year this time "with the future continuous:

- By the time they open, she will be shopping in a different store.
- By the time they arrive, I will be leaving the office.
- At this time tomorrow I'll be doing exercise very hard.

C)We can use other modals like: " should and might" instead of "will" in the future progressive tense:

-He should be studying until 5:00 tonight, so call her later tonight.
-Americans might be struggling to make ends meet if the economy gets any worse!

Difference between future progressive tense and future simple tense

1- In the interrogative form, especially with 'you', to distinguish between a simple request for information and an invitation:

- Will you be coming to the party tonight? (= very polite, suggesting I simply want to know
your plans)
- How long will you be staying in the hotel?
- Will you come to the party? (= invitation)
- Will you come back tomorrow,please? (= order or instruction)
- Will we be spending too much money if we buy that big-screen TV?

2- In some cases the simple future and the future progressive tenses express very similar situations or actions, especially when the future action takes place at an indefinite time in the future. In the following examples, note that both sentences express an almost identical situation: We can't say for sure at what time Tyler is coming, but he is expected soon:

-Tyler will be coming soon.
-Tyler will come soon.

(Robin Torres-Gouzerh, Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners, McGraw-Hill

Professional, 2008)