Blood Relations topic is a subset of the larger Verbal Reasoning section of the syllabus. Blood relations questions are fairly straightforward as the name itself suggests. A number of persons or characters are provided in the question and candidates are asked to determine how one particular character is related to another. Questions based on Blood Relations are evaluated in examinations such as SBI PO, SBI Clerk, MAT, NPS Trust Officer Grade A, NPS Trust Officer Grade B, NHB, PFRDA Grade A, NABARD Grade A and NABARD Grade B among others. Blood Relations questions are asked as jumbled up relations or identifying familial relations.
Blood Relation questions present familial relations in a jumbled-up way. What candidates need to do is untangle or detangle the complicated relationships to understand them simply. All the information needed to solve the questions is provided within the question itself. One simple but sure-shot way of answering Blood Relations questions is by illustrating the given data through blood relation flowcharts. We will revisit this later in this chapter. You will also encounter relationship based/Blood relation based questions in seating arrangements or puzzles.
For candidates who are also honing their English fluency, a list of familial relations with their terminologies in use. It always helps to know the terminologies to reach the correct answer.
| RELATIONSHIP | TERMINOLOGY |
|---|---|
| - | Father |
| - | Mother |
| Mother’s/Father’s child | Son/ daughter |
| Mother’s/Father’s son | Self (if you are only child/son)/ brother |
| Mother’s/Father’s daughter | Self (if you are only child/daughter)/ sister |
| Father’s brother | Paternal uncle |
| Father’s sister | Paternal aunt |
| Father’s mother | Paternal grandmother |
| Father’s father | Paternal grandfather |
| Mother’s brother | Maternal uncle |
| Mother’s sister | Maternal aunt |
| Mother’s mother | Maternal grandmother |
| Mother’s father | Maternal grandfather |
| Husband’s/wife’s mother | Mother-in-law |
| Husband’s/ wife’s father | Father-in-law |
| Son’s wife | Daughter-in-law |
| Daughter’s husband | Son-in-law |
| Husband’s/wife’s brother | Brother-in-law |
| Sister’s husband | Brother-in-law |
| Husband’s/ wife’s sister | Sister-in-law |
| Brother’s wife | Sister-in-law |
| Brother’s/sister’s son | Nephew |
| Brother’s/sister’s daughter | Niece |
| Uncle’s/aunt’s child | Cousin |
| 3rd generation from grandparent | Grandson/Granddaughter/Grandchild |
| 4th generation from grandparent | Great-grandchild |
Let us now study a few examples.
Kaizaad is going through his family’s photo album. In one particular photograph, he points to the lady and says that the lady seen here is the daughter of the only child of my grandfather. How is the lady in the picture related to Kaizaad?
Answer: The lady in the picture is Kaizaad’s grandfather’s only daughter (i.e., Kaizaad’s mother’s) daughter (Kaizaad’s grandfather’s granddaughter). Therefore, Kaizaad and the lady are siblings. The correct answer is option (a).
X is the brother of Y. Y is the brother of Z. F is the father of X. Based on the 3 statements given in the questions, which of the following statements cannot be proven for certain?
Answer: Statement B. There is no way to know if Z is a boy. Thereby, Z could very well be the sister of A and B.
3) While introducing Anjali at a party, Rahul said, "Anjali is the daughter of the only sister of my father." How is Rahul related to Anjali?
Let us illustrate this question with a flowchart
Answer: Since Rahul’s father and Rahul’s father’s sister are siblings, their children will be 1st cousins. So, the correct answer is option (b).
Coding-Decoding or Coded Blood Relations
Another format in which Blood Relations questions can be tested is via Coding and Decoding. Here, the persons and their relation to each other is presented in terms of codes utilizing alphabets, numbers and arithmetic operations. While the question and the assessment remain the same, the presentation of the question is made difficult. This is done purposely to complicate questions. However, candidates need not to get worked up when they come across such questions.
To solve such questions, we first have to decode the question given and then write in a simpler form. Let us understand it with the following example.
Let us study with an example.
Read the following information carefully and answer the given questions:
What should come in place of the question mark, to establish that Q is the child of B in the expression?
T % B # U % M + O ? Q
Ans: 2
As we have learnt from this chapter, Blood Relations is a simpler part of the larger syllabi for competitive examinations but that doesn't make it less important than others. You can witness alteasy one to five questions from this section in Banking and other competitive exams. We have also seen how Blood Relations is closely related to the other topics of Verbal Reasoning, Puzzles and Coding and Decoding. Given below are some examples for your assistance. Practice them as much as possible and try to solve it in under a minute.
