Pointing to a man on the stage, Rita said, "He is the brother of the daughter of the wife of my husband." How is the man on the stage related to Rita?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: Son

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:

This verbal reasoning question is a classic blood-relation puzzle that tests your ability to decode nested family terms such as "wife of my husband" and "brother of the daughter". These kinds of questions are very common in competitive exams and are designed to see whether you can track relations carefully without getting confused by repeated references to "my", "his" or "her".


Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Rita is pointing to a man standing on the stage.
  • She says: "He is the brother of the daughter of the wife of my husband."
  • "My husband" refers to Rita's own husband.
  • The question asks: How is the man related to Rita?
  • We assume a standard, simple family structure with one spouse for each person and the usual meaning of husband, wife, daughter and brother.


Concept / Approach:

The trick is to decode the relationship phrase from inside out. We start with "my husband", then "the wife of my husband", then "the daughter of that wife" and finally "the brother of that daughter". Once we identify who each of these people actually is in relation to Rita, the final relationship becomes easy to state. Visualizing a mini family tree or rewriting the sentence with names can help avoid errors.


Step-by-Step Solution:

Step 1: "My husband" clearly refers to Rita's husband. Step 2: "The wife of my husband" must be Rita herself, because a man's wife is his spouse, and Rita is speaking about her own husband. Step 3: "The daughter of the wife of my husband" is therefore the daughter of Rita herself. In other words, this daughter is Rita's own daughter. Step 4: The man on the stage is described as "the brother of the daughter" identified in Step 3. So he is the brother of Rita's daughter. Step 5: The brother of one's daughter is simply one's son. Thus, the man on the stage is Rita's son.


Verification / Alternative check:

We can substitute names to double-check. Let Rita be R, her husband be H, and their children be a daughter D and a son S. The wife of H is R. The daughter of R is D. The brother of D is S. So when Rita points to a man and describes him as the brother of her own daughter, that man must be S, her son. This confirms our conclusion.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:

He cannot be Rita's husband because the wording clearly distinguishes between "my husband" and "the brother of the daughter".

He cannot be a nephew, as no information suggests he is a sibling's child; he is directly linked to Rita's own child.

He cannot be a brother-in-law; a brother-in-law would normally be the brother of one's spouse or the husband of one's sibling, which does not match the given chain.


Common Pitfalls:

Many students misread "wife of my husband" as someone other than the speaker, forgetting that in a standard monogamous setting, the wife of a person's husband is the person herself. Others lose track of whose daughter is being discussed. Always simplify such phrases by substituting "me" and "myself" where appropriate and working step by step.


Final Answer:

The man on the stage is Rita's son.

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