Question

Kate McConnaughey

(25) A decision is made by the zoo staff that a certain cat is in too much pain to have a good life, when the life of that cat is humanely ended.
Read the passage. Look at the underlined section marked number (25). There may be a mistake in the way the sentence is written. If you find a mistake, choose the answer that corrects the mistake. If there is no mistake, choose ‘Correct as is.’

A) Correct as is.
B) When a decision is made by the zoo staff that a certain cat is in too much pain to have a good life, the life of that cat is humanely ended.
C) A decision is made by the zoo staff that a certain cat is in too much pain to have a good life, unless the life of that cat is humanely ended.
D) When a decision is made by the zoo staff that a certain cat is in too much pain to have a good life, so the life of that cat is humanely ended.

Answer 1

This is a question of chronology. The to points on this time line are 1. the decision and 2. the killing of the cat.
It's a very quick time line.
As written it seems that the decision was made at the moment of the killing. That would imply that the cat was being killed for whatever reason. At that point, the zoo people decide it was in too much pain to live. ( It seems any creature would be in pain if you are killing it).

By moving "When" to the beginning of the sentence, the time line clarifies that the decision is first and then the killing.