Questions on Blood Relations focus on testing the ability of a student to identify different family relationships. It is very important that one has a clear understanding of various terms used to describe family relationships. The test-taker is expected to work out a relationship between people from the information given in the question.

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Typical terms used in Blood Relations

The relations can be classified in the following way:

Classification according to generation

1st Generation	Grandfather, Grandmother
2nd Generation	Mother, Father, Uncle, Aunt
3rd Generation	Self, Sister, Brother, Sister-in-law, Brother-in-law, Cousin
4th Generation	Son, Daughter, Nephew, Niece
5th Generation	Grandson, Granddaughter

Additionally, all relatives on one’s father’s side are paternal relatives and all relatives on one’s mother’s side are maternal relatives.

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Typical blood relations questions

The relationship between two people is given through a roundabout route, relating them to other people. One has to go through a series of relationships between the two people in the question. The relationships can just be as a simple statement or as a statement made by another person.
Certain codes are used to describe different relationships and then a “statement” is given relating people using these codes. On the basis of the interpretation of the codes, the relationship between the people should be established.

Let’s Practice some questions

A man pointing to a photo says “The lady in the photograph is my nephew’s maternal grandmother”. How is the lady in the photograph related to the man’s sister who has no other sister ?
a)Cousin
b)Sister-in-law
c)Mother
d)Mother-in-law
Solution & Explanation

Answer: C
Explanation: Since the man is referring to his nephew, the nephew’s parent has to be a sibling to the man. Now the last part says that the man’s sister has no other sister and hence the brother-sister relationship is established between the man and his nephew’s mother. Now the lady in the picture is the grandmother of the nephew and hence she is the mother of the man’s sister.
A woman going with a boy is asked by another person about the relationship between them. The woman replied ,”My maternal uncle and the uncle of his maternal uncle is the same”. How are the woman and the boy related?
a)Grandmother and Grandson
b)Mother and Son
c)Aunt and Nephew
d)None of these
Solution & Explanation

Answer: C
Explanation: he woman’s maternal uncle and the uncle of the boy’s maternal uncle is the same.(Maternal uncle of the boy)’s parent is the sibling of maternal uncle of the woman.It implies that the woman’s mother, woman’s maternal uncle and the boy’s maternal uncle’s parent are siblings.So the woman and the maternal uncle of the boy are are cousins.So are the woman and the mother of the boy.As they are cousins, the boy is the woman’s nephew and the woman is the boy’s aunt.
Pointing out to a lady, Raja said ,”She is the daughter of the woman who is the mother of the husband of my mother”. Who is the lady to Raja ?
a)Aunt
b)Grand daughter
c)Daughter
d)Sister
Solution & Explanation

Answer: A
Explanation: Mother’s husband is my Father ;
My Father’s mother is my Grandmother ;
My Grandmother’s daughter is my Father’s sister,
Father’s sister is my Aunt
Pointing towards a person a man said to a woman “His mother is the only daughter of your father . How is the woman related to that person?
a)Daughter
b)Sister
c)Mother
d)Wife
Solution & Explanation

Answer: C
Explanation: The only daughter of woman’s father is she herself. So the person is the woman’s son, that is the woman is the person’s mother .
Pointing to a lady in a photograph ,Shaloo said , “Her son’s father is the son-in-law of my mother”, How is Shaloo related to the lady ?
a)Aunt
b)Sister
c)Mother
d)Cannot be determined
Solution & Explanation

Answer: D
Explanation: Lady’s son’s father is lady’s husband. So the lady’s husband is the son-in-law of Shaloo’s mother that is the lady is the daughter of Shaloo’s mother. Hence, Shaloo can either be the sister of the lady or can also be considered as the lady herself.
Thus the answer cannot be determined.
Rita told Mani, “The girl i met yesterday at the beach was the youngest daughter of the brother-in-law of my friend’s mother”. How is the girl related to Rita’s friend ?
a)Cousin
b)Daughter
c)Niece
d)Friend
Solution & Explanation

Answer: A
Explanation: The relation may be analysed as follows
Daughter of brother-in-law is my Niece :
My Mother’s niece is my Cousin
So the girl is the cousin of Rita’s friend
When Manoj saw Ashok, he recalled, that Ashok was the son of the father of the mother of his daughter. What is Ashok to Manoj?
a)Brother-in-law
b)Brother
c)Cousin
d)Uncle
Solution & Explanation

Answer: A
Explanation: The Mother of my daughter is my wife. Son of father of wife is the brother of wife i.e. brother-in-law.
Ashok is the brother-in-law of Manoj.
Showing the man receiving the prize Seema said, “He is the brother of my uncle’s daughter”. What is the man to Seema?
a)Son
b)Brother-in-law
c)Nephew
d)Cousin
Solution & Explanation

Answer: D
Explanation: Brother of my uncle’s daughter is my uncle’s son, who is my cousin. i.e. The man is Seema’s cousin.
Prakash is the son of Pramod. Neha is the daughter of Abhishek. Ruchi is the mother of Neha. Awadhesh is the brother of Neha. How is Awadhesh related to Ruchi?
a)Brother
b)Father
c)Son
d)Cannot be determined
Solution & Explanation

Answer: C
Explanation: Neha is the daughter of Abhishek and Ruchi.
Abhiskek and Ruchi are husband and wife respectively.
Awadhesh is the brother of Neha and hence, he is the son of Abhishek and Ruchi.
A + B means A is the father of B, A – B means A is the wife of B, A x B means A is the brother of B,
A / B means A is the daughter of B.
If P / R + S + Q, which of the following is true ?
a)P is the daughter of Q
b)P is the aunt of Q
c)Q is the aunt of P
d)P is the mother of Q
Solution & Explanation

Answer: B
Explanation: From the given data we conclude that S is the father of Q and P/R denotes that P is the daughter of R and R is the father of S, which makes P as Q’s aunt.