Verb in dictionary form followed by のと


> お母さんが頭を下げて試供品を受け取る **の** と、まる子がぴたりとさわぐのをやめるのは同時だった。  
>  Mother bowed, and when she took the free sample, at the same time Maruko
> suddenly stopped making a racket.

What is the purpose of the の in bold in this sentence? Is it like the の in のだ
i.e. "It was when mother took the free sample that ..."? Is the meaning
changed if I remove の?




> 「お母さんが頭を下げて試供品を受け取る + **の** + と、まる子がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる + **の** + は同時だった。」

The basic structure of that sentence is:

> 「AとBは[同時]{どうじ}だった」 = "A and B took place at the same time."

A and B, in this case, both happen to be mini-sentences, don't they?

> A: 「お[母]{かあ}さんが[頭]{あたま}を[下]{さ}げて[試供品]{しきょうひん}を[受]{う}け[取]{と}る」 = "Mother bows
> as she takes the free sample"
>
> B: 「まる[子]{こ}がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる」 = "Maruko suddenly stops making a racket"

Now, in order to say "A and B happened at the same time." rather than "A
happened at the same time B happened.", would one not feel like
_**nominalizing**_ both mini-sentenes? A Japanese-speaker would, so he would
attach his go-to nominalizer 「の」.

The sentence itself is in the past tense - 「同時 **だった** 」, but one would need
to notice that the two actions are **not** - 「受け取る」 and 「やめる」.

Grammatically speaking, 「同時だった」 at the very end is the main verb phrase of the
sentence. The far longer part that precedes is only the subject of the
sentence.




> 「お母さんが頭を下げて試供品を受け取る + **の** + と、まる子がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる + **の** + は同時だった。」

The basic structure of that sentence is:

> 「AとBは[同時]{どうじ}だった」 = "A and B took place at the same time."

A and B, in this case, both happen to be mini-sentences, don't they?

> A: 「お[母]{かあ}さんが[頭]{あたま}を[下]{さ}げて[試供品]{しきょうひん}を[受]{う}け[取]{と}る」 = "Mother bows
> as she takes the free sample"
>
> B: 「まる[子]{こ}がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる」 = "Maruko suddenly stops making a racket"

Now, in order to say "A and B happened at the same time." rather than "A
happened at the same time B happened.", would one not feel like
_**nominalizing**_ both mini-sentenes? A Japanese-speaker would, so he would
attach his go-to nominalizer 「の」.

The sentence itself is in the past tense - 「同時 **だった** 」, but one would need
to notice that the two actions are **not** - 「受け取る」 and 「やめる」.

Grammatically speaking, 「同時だった」 at the very end is the main verb phrase of the
sentence. The far longer part that precedes is only the subject of the
sentence.

