Introducing a woman, Jay said, “She is the daughter of the only child of my grandfather.” How is the woman related to Jay?
- (a)Aunt
- (b)Sister
- (c)Niece
- (d)Cousin
Answer
Why
Correct — B.
Rule: decode one link at a time: grandfather → his only child → that child's daughter.
The grandfather has one child, so that child is Jay's parent (father or mother).
The woman is a daughter of Jay's parent, and she is not Jay.
So she is Jay's sister → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Aunt — Aunt sits a generation above Jay, as a sister of Jay's parent. The woman is a daughter of Jay's parent, which puts her in Jay's own generation.
- (c)Niece — Niece would make her the daughter of Jay's brother or sister. Her parent is Jay's parent, which puts her in Jay's generation, one above a niece.
- (d)Cousin — Cousin needs a parent who is Jay's uncle or aunt. The grandfather has a single child, so there is no uncle or aunt on this side, and her parent is Jay's own.
Concept
Blood-relation statements are decoded one link at a time, starting from the person the speaker names last in the chain, here Jay's grandfather.
The phrase 'only child' does the work. A grandfather's children are the speaker's parent, uncles and aunts. With a single child, that child must be the speaker's parent, and whether it is Jay's father or mother does not change the answer.
Jay has two grandfathers and the statement does not say which. It does not matter: whichever it is, his only child is the parent through whom Jay descends from him.
Key facts
- A grandfather's only child is the speaker's own parent.
- Any daughter of your parent, other than yourself, is your sister.
- Generations: cousin and sister sit level with you, aunt one above, niece one below.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading 'daughter of the only child' as a niece, as if the child were Jay's sibling
- Answering Cousin, which needs an uncle or aunt that an only child rules out
12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.20 turns the same kind of phrase back on the speaker: 'my mother's only son' is the man himself, so the girl is his daughter, the keyed answer.
19 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.10 chains two such links: A is the only daughter of B, who is the only son of C, keyed Granddaughter.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.