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SSC CGL Reasoning · Blood Relations

Spoken Relation Chains

One person describes another through a chain of possessives, such as 'my mother's brother's son', and you shorten the chain one step at a time, starting from the speaker.

All Blood Relations notes

Why this matters

Fifty-one questions in the bank, the largest page of the chapter: twenty-eight from the 2025 shifts and twenty-three from 2023, with twelve MODERATE and the rest EASY. A long chain usually shortens in two or three moves once you know which pairs collapse, including the 'only son' that turns out to be the speaker.

Concept 1 of 3: Shortening a possessive chain from the speaker outward

A chain like 'my father's sister's son' is a walk across the family tree. Start where the speaker stands, take one step for each possessive, and after every step give the person you have reached a single name. Long chains are short walks with many words.

Definition

1. Start at the speaker: 'my' is the speaker, 'your' is the listener, 'his' or 'her' is the person pointed at. 2. Read left to right. Each 's is one step: my father, then my father's sister, then her son. 3. After each step, replace the words with one relation: father's sister is a paternal aunt; a paternal aunt's son is a cousin. 4. Pairs that collapse at sight: a parent's husband or wife is your other parent; a sibling's parent is your own parent; your child's other parent is your husband or wife. 5. Read the question's direction last. 'How is the woman related to Param?' and 'How is Param related to the woman?' have opposite answers, such as grandmother and grandson. 6. Use any gender the stem gives ('Param (a man)', 'a woman said'): it decides the final word.

Worked example

Looking at a photo of a woman, Arun said, 'She is the mother of my father's only sister's son.' (a) How is the woman related to Arun? (b) How is Arun related to her?
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 15 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q17Easy

Example 1 · Blood Relations · Spoken Relation Chains

M introduces R as the son of the only brother of her mother's husband. How is R related to M?

Starting the chain from the far end

Begin at 'my' and walk outward. Starting from the last word ('daughter of ...') and working back makes it easy to drop a step, and a dropped step moves the answer a whole generation.

Answering for the wrong person

When the stem asks how the speaker is related to the person pointed at, finish the chain, then turn it round. If she is the speaker's grandmother, the speaker is her grandson or granddaughter.
Drill 14 more on shortening a possessive chain from the speaker outward

Concept 2 of 3: When the chain points back to the speaker

Many chains loop back. 'My mother's only son' is the speaker himself, and 'my father's wife' is just my mother. Spotting the loop early turns a long chain into one step, but the loop depends on the speaker's gender.

Definition

  • 'My mother's only son' or 'my father's only son' is the speaker, if the speaker is male. If the speaker is female, it is her brother.
  • 'My mother's only daughter' is the speaker, if the speaker is female. If the speaker is male, it is his sister.
  • 'My father's wife' is my mother; 'my mother's husband' is my father.
  • 'My wife's son's father', said by a man, is the man himself.
  • 'The only child of my paternal grandfather' is my father; on the mother's side it is my mother.
  • 'Your sister's brother' is you or your brother: both have the same parents, which is usually all the question needs.

Worked example

Introducing a man, Priyanka said, 'His wife is the only daughter of my mother.' How is the man related to Priyanka?
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 13 Sep 2025, Shift 2 · Q23Easy

Example 2 · Blood Relations · Spoken Relation Chains

Introducing a boy, a girl says, "He is the son of my mother's only son." Who is the boy to the girl?

Collapsing 'only son' to a woman speaker

For a woman, her mother's only son is her brother, never herself. Whatever the chain says about him next (his wife, his children) is about her brother's family: his wife is her sister-in-law, not herself.

Calling the speaker's sibling 'myself' too soon

'My father's son' is only the speaker when the stem says 'only son' and the speaker is male. Without 'only', it may be a brother; check before you collapse.
Drill 20 more on when the chain points back to the speaker

Concept 3 of 3: In-law relations through a husband or wife

An in-law is a relative you gain by marriage. Each in-law word is one ordinary relation plus one marriage step, so the table below is worth knowing by heart: SSC chains such as 'my father's father-in-law's wife's son' are built from it.

Definition

Two checks settle most in-law rows:

  • Brother-in-law and sister-in-law each have two meanings: your husband's or wife's sibling, or your sibling's husband or wife.
  • A father-in-law and mother-in-law are one level up; a son-in-law and daughter-in-law one level down; brothers- and sisters-in-law on your own level.
RelationWho it isLevel
Father-in-lawthe father of your husband or wifeone up
Mother-in-lawthe mother of your husband or wifeone up
Son-in-lawthe husband of your daughterone down
Daughter-in-lawthe wife of your sonone down
Brother-in-lawyour husband's or wife's brother, or your sister's husbandsame
Sister-in-lawyour husband's or wife's sister, or your brother's wifesame
Wife's sister's husbanda co-brother, keyed by SSC as a brother-in-lawsame
His son is your nephew, as is the son of any brother-in-law.
Husband's or wife's sibling's childyour nephew or nieceone down
Every in-law is one blood relation and one marriage step.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 14 Sep 2025, Shift 1 · Q24Moderate

Example 3 · Blood Relations · Spoken Relation Chains

Introducing a man, Shruti said, "He is the husband of the granddaughter of the only son of my grandfather." How is the man related to Shruti?

Taking a mother's son-in-law as your husband every time

Your mother's son-in-law is the husband of one of her daughters. He is your husband only if you are her only daughter; otherwise he may be your sister's husband, your brother-in-law.

Calling a cousin's wife a sister-in-law without checking

Strictly, a cousin's wife is not a sister-in-law; she is your cousin's wife. SSC has keyed 'sister-in-law' for her when nothing closer was printed, so choose it only after cousin, sister and niece are ruled out.
Drill 14 more on in-law relations through a husband or wife

Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance

A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.

Reference tables (1)

In-law relations through a husband or wife8 rows
RelationWho it isLevel
Father-in-lawthe father of your husband or wifeone up
Mother-in-lawthe mother of your husband or wifeone up
Son-in-lawthe husband of your daughterone down
Daughter-in-lawthe wife of your sonone down
Brother-in-lawyour husband's or wife's brother, or your sister's husbandsame
Sister-in-lawyour husband's or wife's sister, or your brother's wifesame
Wife's sister's husbanda co-brother, keyed by SSC as a brother-in-lawsame
His son is your nephew, as is the son of any brother-in-law.
Husband's or wife's sibling's childyour nephew or nieceone down
Every in-law is one blood relation and one marriage step.

Watch out for (6)

Test yourself on Blood Relations

20 past SSC CGL questions from this chapter, timed at 12 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.

Take the Blood Relations chapter testDrill all 51 questions