Shortcuts in Reasoning for Competitive Exams – Blood Relations
Shortcuts in Reasoning Quantitative Aptitude English
Blood Relations
INTRODUCTION
Blood relation does mean biological relation. Remember a wife and husband are met biologically related but they are biological parents of their own children. Similarly, brother, sister, paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, niece, cousin etc. are our blood relatives.
TYPES OF BLOOD RELATIONS
There are mainly two types of blood relatives:
- Blood relation from paternal side
- Blood relation from maternal side
1 . Blood relation from paternal side:
This type of blood relation can be further subdivided into three types:
- Past generations of father : Great grandfather, great grandmother, grandfather, grandmother etc.
- Parallel generations of father: Uncles (Brothers of father), Aunts (sisters of father) etc.
- Future generations of father: Sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters etc.
2 . Blood relation from maternal side:
- This type of blood relations can also be subdivided into three types:
Past generations of mother : Maternal great grandfather, maternal great grandmother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother etc. - Parallel generations of mother : Maternal uncles, maternal aunts etc.
- Future generations of mother : Sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters etc.
Some Important Information about Blood Relation
A. Without the information of gender, no relationship can be established between two people. For example, If given that R is the child of P & Q, then we can only say that P & Q are the parents of R. But we can not find out:
R is the son of P & Q or R is the daughter of P & Q.
Who is mother of R and who is father of R.
But if we have given that P is a male, Q is a female and R is male, then we can easily say that R is the son of P and Q. Further we can also say that P is father of R and Q is mother of R.
B. Gender can not be decided on the basis of name. For example, in Sikh community the names like Manjit, Sukhvinder etc. are the names of both male and female. Similarly, in the Hindu Community ‘Suman’ is the name of both male and female.
Shortcut Approach
- While solving blood relation based question, first of all find out that two persons between whom a relationship has to be established.
- Next, try to find out middle relation.
- Finally, find out the relationship. between two persons to be. identified for this purpose.
TYPES OF PROBLEMS
- General Problems on Blood Relation
- Blood Relation based on Family Tree
- Coded Blood Relation
1 . General Problem on Blood Relation
EXAMPLE 1. Pointing towards a
photograph, Mr. Sharma said, “She is the only daughter of mother of my brother’s sister.” How is Mr. Sharma related to the lady in the photograph?
Solution . Here, we have to find relationship between Mr. Sharma & the lady in the photograph.
Mother of my brother’s sister does mean my (Mr. Sharma’s) mother. Only daughter of Mr. Sharma’s mother does mean “sister of Mr. Sharma”.
Shortcut Approach
- Read the statement from right to left to develop the relation by using blood relation table.
2 . Blood Relation based on Family Tree
EXAMPLE 2. Q is the brother of C and C is the sister of Q. R and D are brother and sister. R is the son of A while A & C are wife and husband. How is Q related with D.
Solution . F or such type of question a family tree is made in which some symbols are used as below:
⇔ is used for husband & wife.
‘__’ is used for brother & sister
‘ | ’ is used for parents (father or mother). Parents are put on top while children are put at the bottom.
‘ – ‘ or minus sign is used for female ‘+’ or plus sign is used for male. Now, adopting and using the above given symbols we can make a family tree and solve the given problem, let us see the family tree :
Family tree :
As per the question Q is the brother of C and C is the sister of Q. Hence, relation between C & Q has been presented as
makes it clear that C is a female and ‘+’ sign above ‘Q’ makes it clear that Q is a male. Similarly, for R and D. The
presentation 
has been made. Further according to the question,
A and C are having a husband and wife relationship and hence this has been presented as 
. As it is already given that C is the sister of Q and A and C are wife and husband, this becomes clear that A is the male member of the family and this is the reason A has ‘+’ as its gender sign. Lastly, the vertical line gives father and son relationship and has been presented as 
Now from this familytree it becomes clear that C is the mother of R and D and as Q is the brother ofC, then Q will definitely be the maternal uncle of R & D. Hence, we can say that Q is the maternal uncle of D and this is the required answer for our question.
Shortcut Approach
Follow the symbols for male (+) and (-) female .
Remember the generations and relations.
Note : In solving family tree based relations make sure that your diagram is in correct representation.
3 . Codded Blood Relations
EXAMPLE 3. If P + Q means P is husband of Q, P/Q means P is the sister of Q, P*Q means P is the son of Q. flow is D related to A in D*B + C/A ?
Solution . C/A – C is sister of A.
B + C/A – Bis brother-in-law of A (Sister’s husband – broter-in-law) D*B + C/A – D is nephew of A (Sister’s husband’s son means sister’s son i.e., nephew)
So, D is nephew to A.
Shortcut Method :
By using symbols and generation relations :
So, it is clearly shown that D is nephew to A.
Shortcut Approach
- The best way to solve blood , relation questions, you try and , relate every statement to ‘yourself. The starting name of the statement could be assumed as your name or you.
- When the statement is very long, it can get confusing. So, break down every statement in the question into sub statements and solve the question.
- Do not assume the gender of any person in the question just based on the names given in the question.
- Draw a family tree where people of the same generation are placed at the same level and the entire diagram is in the form of a hierarchy.
Remember
- Concentrate on points which give maximum definite information.
- Read the questions carefully and try identifying the persons between whom relationship is to be established. Possibly put yourself in given character so that it becomes easy for you to understand.
- Whilst concluding the relationship between two people be careful about the gender of the person being talked about as it is possible to commit mistake by assuming the gender of the person which is not given in the data or which can’t be extracted from the data/ information given.
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