Rani said, “The man in the photo is my mother’s son-in-law.” Who is the man to Rani?

Correct — A. Rule: a son-in-law is the husband of one's daughter.

So Rani's mother's son-in-law is the husband of her mother's daughter.

Rani is her mother's daughter, so the man in the photo is Rani's husband — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Father — Rani's father is her mother's husband, not her son-in-law. A son-in-law belongs to the generation below the mother, the same generation as Rani.
• (c)
  Uncle — An uncle is a parent's brother or an aunt's husband. To Rani's mother he would be a brother or a brother-in-law, never a son-in-law.
• (d)
  Cousin — A cousin is the child of Rani's uncle or aunt, so to her mother he is a nephew, by blood or by marriage, not a son-in-law.

A spoken relation is solved by replacing each relation word with its definition, working outwards from the speaker.

Son-in-law means daughter's husband, so "my mother's son-in-law" becomes "my mother's daughter's husband".

The mother's daughter is Rani herself, or a sister of Rani. The man is therefore married to Rani or to her sister, and the options decide which.

Key facts

• Son-in-law: the husband of one's daughter.
• A mother's daughter is the speaker herself, if female, or the speaker's sister.
• A mother's husband is the speaker's father.

Common traps

• Stopping at "mother's" and choosing Father, the mother's husband.
• Forgetting that Rani herself is her mother's daughter.

No directly related past PYQ was found.