He put on his raincoat, going out and disappearing in the torrents of rain.

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diamondcutter

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Oct 21, 2014
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English Teacher
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Chinese
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China
He put on his raincoat, going out and disappearing in the torrents of rain.
This sentence is from an English grammar website in China. They say it’s a wrong sentence, but I think it makes sense, meaning “He put on his raincoat, and then went out and disappeared in the torrents of rain.”
What do you say?
 
Reverse the sentence, and you have:

Going out and disappearing in the torrents of rain, he put on his raincoat.

Obviously, it doesn't work with the present participles. Your version is okay.
 
He put on his raincoat, going out and disappearing in the torrents of rain.
This sentence is from an English grammar website in China. They say it’s a wrong sentence, but I think it makes sense, meaning “He put on his raincoat, and then went out and disappeared in the torrents of rain.”
What do you say?
I agree with you, but I think that it would be helpful to have an adverb(ial) like "forthwith" to clarify that it is a succession, not a coincidence, of events:

He put on his raincoat, going out forthwith and disappearing in the torrents of rain.
 
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