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Someone has told me recently that "A as soon as B" does not imply that B will be complete before A starts, but rather that both events will take place at the same time. Example:
He will speak as soon as he finishes eating.
I have always understood that the subject will start to speak right after he finishes eating. According to what I have heard recently, the subject will start to speak while he finishes eating. Which one is the correct meaning?
This depends on context.
He will do B as soon as he finishes A.
(as in the example) should mean that B will start right after A ends. However
He will do B as soon as A occurs.
may mean that B will be started more or less right after A is started. It depends on the nature of A, and of any qualifing words used.
He will call you as soon as he goes on his trip.
may mean that he will call from car or airport by cellphone, or that he will call once he arrives at his destination.
He will call you as soon as he leaves on his trip.
should mean that he will call while enroute.
Also, people are sometimes less than precise with their wording, or do not act exactly as they have said they plan to. It may be risky to assume precise timing without quite explicitly confirming the planned sequence.
Where I come from, "A as soon as B" means "A immediately after B" (not during B).
Examples:
We will inform you as soon as we have the information.
I'll be able to leave as soon as my car is fixed.
Add the noodles as soon as the water starts to boil.
They will continue the work as soon as the power comes back on.
This would apply especially to your case where B has the word "finish" in it.
It does not. This always means A will happen when B is completed.
If A or B talk about a "spawning process", then that's where some complexity could happen.
I will eat as soon as Jane starts talking.
Jane will be talking while I eat. Technically, though, the event called "starting talking" has been completed - the moment after she starts talking, she is now "continuing talking."
If A "will happen as soon as B", this certainly implies that B is a precondition that must be satisfied before A happens; there is also a strong suggestion that A will happen soon after B happens. But I don't think there is a guarantee that A will happen immediately. Clearly "I'll answer as soon as I can" implies some deliberate vagueness about exactly when I will answer; and if I respond to an email saying "I'll deal with it as soon as I'm back from my vacation", I don't think anyone would expect me to deal with it as the first thing I do after I arrive home.
If B is an event - i.e. of negligible duration, then A is triggered by B and would occur with negligible delay at the time of B.
If B is an action of appreciable duration, then a triggering event E should be described for action B on which A could be triggered unambiguosely - such as the start of B or the end of B; for example: "The Band should resume as soon as the rapper drops the mike during his recital"
He will speak as soon as he finishes eating.
As a native speaker of English, he is definitely going to speak after eating. Consider another case that implies concurrency:
She will turn off the lights as soon as the music starts.
Something is still happening after an event, but since the triggering event is not ending it can be interpreted that the events happen concurrently. The music will be playing while the lights are being turned off.
