Blood Relations
About 6 min · General Intelligence and Reasoning · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 442 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
These problems test your ability to decode family relationships from verbal descriptions and either identify a specific relation or trace a connection between two persons.
Key ideas
- Generation levels: Parents/uncles/aunts are one generation up (+1), siblings/cousins are same generation (0), children/nieces/nephews are one down (–1), and grandparents/grandchildren are ±2 respectively. Track vertical movement to avoid mixing generations.
- Gender markers: Always assign M (male) or F (female) when drawing trees. Terms like son, father, brother, husband, uncle, nephew are male; daughter, mother, sister, wife, aunt, niece are female. "Sibling" or "child" can be either gender.
- "Only" keyword traps: "Only son" means exactly one son (no brothers, but sisters may exist unless stated "only child"). "Only daughter of my mother" means the speaker herself if female, creating a self-reference chain often tested in coded problems.
- In-law relationships: Spouse's relatives or sibling's spouses. Mother-in-law is your spouse's mother. Brother-in-law can be your sister's husband, your spouse's brother, or your spouse's sister's husband — context determines which.
- Maternal vs. paternal: Maternal uncle (mama) is mother's brother; paternal uncle (chacha/tau) is father's brother. Maternal aunt (mausi) is mother's sister; paternal aunt (bua) is father's sister. Grandparents follow the same split.
Watch out for
- "Only daughter" confusion → Students assume "only daughter of my mother" means a separate person. Fix: If the speaker is female and her mother has only one daughter, the speaker herself is that daughter. Always check if self-reference applies.
- Mixing in-law with blood → Calling spouse's brother "brother" instead of "brother-in-law." Fix: Blood relation = direct lineage or sibling. In-law = through marriage. Keep them distinct.
- Ignoring gender in answers → Writing "sibling" when the question demands "brother" or "sister." Fix: Read the question carefully; if gender is specified or the answer options split by gender, commit to male or female.
Quick reference
- Uncle's/Aunt's child = Cousin (same generation).
- Brother's/Sister's child = Nephew (M) or Niece (F) (one generation down).
- "Only son of my grandfather" = my father (if he's the sole son).
- "Her mother is my mother" → She is my sister or I am she (if both female).
- In-laws: Add "-in-law" for spouse's family or child's spouse.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Pointing to a photograph, Ramesh said, "She is the daughter of my grandfather's only son." How is the woman in the photograph related to Ramesh?
2. A is the mother of B. C is the father of B. D is the brother of C. E is the wife of D. What is the relation of E to B?
3. Introducing a man, a woman said, "His wife is the only daughter of my mother." How is the woman related to the man?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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