Pointing to a man's picture, a woman said, "His brother's father is the only…
2024
Pointing to a man's picture, a woman said, "His brother's father is the only son of my mother." What is the relation of the man to the woman?
- A.
Brother
- B.
Son
- C.
Cousin
- D.
Nephew
Attempted by 11 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In blood-relation puzzles, decode a nested relation phrase from the innermost clause outward — identify each described person, substitute step by step, and reduce the chain until a direct kinship term emerges. A key device is “the only son/daughter of X” — this always points back to one specific individual with no sibling of that gender.
The statement is: “His brother's father is the only son of my mother” (his = the man in the picture).
Full siblings share the same father, so “his brother's father” is simply his own father.
So the statement reduces to: the man's father is “the only son of my mother” — that is, the woman's own brother.
Therefore, the man's father = the woman's brother, which makes the man the son of the woman's brother.
Cross-check: The son of one's own brother is always one's nephew, confirming the relation without relying on any other reading of the statement.
Hence, the man is the woman's nephew.