--- title: Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Being "on time" means different things in different places. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/) / Being on time around the world, waitin… # Being on time around the world, waiting your turn and deadlines Lesson 129 of the world course of Mova's primary school: 24 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/0/) — Being "on time" means different things in different places. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/1/) — Japan's trains are famous for it: in 2017 a company said sorry in public because a train left 20 seconds early, since early is wrong too when people plan to catch it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/2/) — In Germany on time often means a few minutes early; in Brazil, arriving a bit late to a party at a friend's home is normal and polite, though school and work start on the dot in both. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/3/) — Daily rhythms differ too: in Spain dinner is often at half nine at night, while many English families eat at half five or six. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/4/) — Neither is wrong; it's worth learning how a place uses the clock before judging it. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/5/) — Time is shared. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/6/) — Waiting your turn in a queue is fair because everyone's time counts the same, and pushing in steals other people's minutes. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/7/) — A bus keeps a timetable for everyone further down the road, so it doesn't wait, however loudly you shout. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/8/) — Deadlines go better little and often: 20 minutes a day for 2 weeks is 280 minutes, over 4 and a half hours, with no panic, while starting a 3-hour job at 8 pm on Sunday ends at 11 pm, 2 hours past bedtime. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/9/) — Putting things off is called procrastination, and everyone does it sometimes. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/10/) — Being on time shows respect for other people's time, and lateness is mostly fixed by habits: pack your bag the night before, leave a bit earlier, and arrive a few minutes early, like Ella's mum, who sits in the car at 9:50 for a 10:00 meeting. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/11/) — In 2017 a Japanese train company said sorry in public because a train left 20 seconds early. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/12/) — Leaving early can make people miss a train, so it counts as a mistake too. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/13/) — In Spain dinner is often around 21:00 to 22:00, while many English families eat at 17:30 to 18:30. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/14/) — In British English "half nine" means 9:30. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/15/) — In Germany being on time often means a little early; in Brazil arriving a bit late to a visit at a friend's home is normal. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/16/) — Waiting your turn in a queue is fair because everyone's time counts the same. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/17/) — Buses keep to a timetable and don't wait, so that the people further along the route are not made late. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/18/) — Putting work off to the last minute is called procrastination; a deadline is when the work must be handed in. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/19/) — 20 minutes a day for 14 days is 280 minutes, which is 4 hours 40 minutes. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/20/) — A 3-hour job started at 8 pm ends at 11 pm. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/21/) — If 30 children each kept a teacher waiting 5 minutes, she would lose 150 minutes. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/22/) — Being 5 minutes late on each of 5 school days adds up to 25 minutes a week. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/129-being-on-time-around-the-world/23/) — "At 10 sharp" and "on the dot" mean exactly on time; "grand" in Ireland means fine. - ← previous: [Growing up: ages of people and pets, and the "dog years" myth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/128-growing-up-ages-dog-years/) - next →: [Screen time, wasted time, and putting it all together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/130-screen-time-and-putting-it-together/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)