Past exam of the options I course of the University of Oxford / 2012 / E / E2 / b / Solution

Define $\mathcal{T}$ to be all unions of members of $\mathcal{B}$, including the empty union. Then $\varnothing \in \mathcal{T}$ and the covering assumption gives $X\in \mathcal{T}$. Arbitrary unions of such sets are again unions of basis members.

For two members $U={\bigcup }_i{B}_i$ and $V={\bigcup }_j{B}_j^{\prime }$, distribute intersection over union:Each intersection is a union of members of $\mathcal{B}$ by the second assumption, so $U\cap V\in \mathcal{T}$. Repeating gives closure under all finite intersections. These are precisely the topology axioms. Every $B\in \mathcal{B}$ belongs to $\mathcal{T}$, and every set in $\mathcal{T}$ is a union of such members by construction. Thus