P is married to M. W is the wife of S. G is the daughter of A. M is the mother of S. A is the sister of P. How is P related to W?

Question

P is married to M. W is the wife of S. G is the daughter of A. M is the mother of S. A is the sister of P. How is P related to W?

1. A. Mother-in-law
2. B. Daughter-in-law
3. C. Son-in-law
4. D. Father-in-law (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — Father-in-law

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Father-in-law.

Key Points

• Take the statements in turn:
  • M is the mother of S, and P is married to M, so P is S's father.
  • W is the wife of S.
• P is therefore the father of W's husband, which makes P her father-in-law.
• A is the sister of P and G is A's daughter; neither affects the P–W relationship, so both are there purely as distraction.

Additional Information

• P's gender is fixed by the chain: P is married to M, who is a mother, so P is male — which is what settles father-in-law over mother-in-law.
• Draw the tree with squares for males, circles for females, a horizontal line for marriage and a vertical line for descent; two generations become obvious immediately.
• In-law vocabulary worth having ready: your spouse's parents are your parents-in-law, your child's spouse is your son/daughter-in-law, and your spouse's siblings are your brother/sister-in-law.
• Questions of this shape routinely include one or two people irrelevant to the asked relationship — identify the two endpoints first and trace only the path between them.