Blood Relations

Blood Relation questions are based on mingled information given about different family members as in a puzzle. Right from first point onward the information should be put down in a symbolic manner which when combined in the end becomes the family chart.

Before delving further into approach of solving questions, it is important to understand what is meant by different relations –

Sibling	Another child of own parents i.e. brother or sister
Brother	Male sibling (shall never mean cousin)
Sister	Female sibling (shall never mean cousin)
Father's Brother	Paternal Uncle
Father's Sister	Paternal Aunt
Father's Father	Paternal Grand Father
Father's Mother	Paternal Grand Mother
Mother's Brother	Maternal Uncle
Mother's Sister	Maternal Aunt
Mother's Father	Maternal Grand Father
Mother's Mother	Maternal Grand Mother
Sister's Husband	Brother-in-Law
Sister's Daughter	Niece
Sister's Son	Nephew
Brother's Wife	Sister-in-law
Brother's Daughter	Niece
Brother's Son	Nephew
Uncle's Wife	Aunt
Uncle's Daughter	Cousin
Uncle's Son	Cousin
Aunt's Husband	Uncle
Aunt's Daughter	Cousin
Aunt's Son	Cousin
Wife's Father	Father-in-Law
Wife's Mother	Mother-in-Law
Wife's Brother	Brother-in-Law
Wife's Sister	Sister-in-Law
Husband's Father	Father-in-Law
Husband's Mother	Mother-in-Law
Husband's Brother	Brother-in-Law
Husband's Sister	Sister-in-Law
Son's Wife	Daughter-in-Law
Daughter's Husband	Son-in-Law
Daughter's Daughter	Grand Daughter
Daughter's Son	Grand Son
Son's Daughter	Grand Daughter
Son's Son	Grand Son

While solving questions on this chapter it is advised to make family charts with different levels to designate different generations and also write the relation that a person is fulfilling to denote her/his gender as illustrated in #1.

Another important point to remember is that one should not make biases about name/gender as any name could belong to any gender. (refer #2).

While plotting the family chart one should remember that in a sentence if “who” is written it refers to the previous person discussed in the passage. On the other hand if “and” is added to “she” or “he” then it refers to the first person mentioned in that sentence. (refer #2)

#1. A is the brother of B, who’s mother E is married to D, who’s only daughter’s daughter is F. If C is the paternal aunt of A’s son G, then how is B related to G’s only cousin?

a) Aunt   b) Uncle   c) Cousin   d) Can’t be determined

The above information can be broken into points and the family chart shall evolve as follows:

As E & D have only one daughter, it has to be C and B will be uncle to G’s cousin F. Hence b)

#2. Anil and Bhaskar were best friends who later went on to become brothers-in-law. Bhaskar is the only child of his parents who are also friends of Anil’s parents Chirag and Deepa, who have two children Anil and Ekta. How is Bhaskar’s daughter Fagun related to Anil, and how is Chirag related to her?

a) Uncle and Granddaughter   b) Uncle and Grandfather   c) Niece and Grandfather   d) Niece and Grandfather/Grandmother

Here the following chart can be made –

There are only two ways for Anil and Bhaskar being brothers-in-law – i) Anil marries Bhaskar’s sister (which is not possible as Bhaskar is the lone child of his parents) ii) Bhaskar marries Anil’s sister [this has to be true as i) cannot happen]. This also implies that Ekta must be female as Anil has only one sibling. However genders of Chirag and Deepa could not be established and either of them could be father/mother of Anil & Ekta.

Hence Bhaskar and Ekta’s daughter Fagun is niece of Anil while Chirag could be either Grandfather or Grandmother of Fagun. Hence d)