Walking to the sink, he splashed cold water on his face...

Question

"Walking to the sink, he splashed cold water on his face and tried to wake up."This sentence is from "Da Vinci Code", and I have a problem with the sequence of events of it.I think "he" walked and then splashed water, so I 'm having a hard time figuring out why the writer used the ~ing form for the wallking. I mean, "he" can't splash water on his face and walk to the sink at the same time. I think "he" should walk to the sink first, and then splash water on his face.

Inchoateknowledge · Accepted Answer

after/while he was"Walking to the sink"
it is highly likely that the ellipted adverb is 'after'.
so first he went up to the sink, then sprinkled water on his face, and after that he tried to be wide awake.

Philip · Answer

Bamtori"Walking to the sink, he splashed cold water on his face and tried to wake up."

This sentence is from "Da Vinci Code", and I have a problem with the sequence of events of it.

I think "he" walked and then splashed water, so I 'm having a hard time figuring out why the writer used the ~ing form for the wallking. I mean, "he" can't splash water on his face and walk to the sink at the same time. I think "he" should walk to the sink first, and then splash water on his face.

Brown is a great story-teller, not necessarily an excellent writer.

Bamtori · Answer

I was suspecting that and now everything is clear. Thank you so much, Inchoateknowledge

Philip, do you mean that sentence is poorly written? Then could you rewrite it to be a better one?

Walking to the sink, he splashed cold water on his face...

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