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Firsthand and Secondhand is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on telling the two kinds of account apart, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.6. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 12 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Firsthand and Secondhand

RI.4.6

NameDate

Tick the right answer.

1.What makes an account firsthand?
  • A.It is longer
  • B.It is written by somebody who was there
  • C.It is written first
2.Why might two accounts of one event disagree?
  • A.Accounts are always identical
  • B.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered
  • C.One of them must be lying
3.Should a historian use only one kind of account?
  • A.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  • B.Yes, firsthand only
  • C.Yes, secondhand only
4.Which account would you use to find out how many houses flooded?
  • A.The diary, which gives one house
  • B.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  • C.Neither
5.A firsthand account says "I was the one who said it was nothing." What does the "I" tell you?
  • A.The writer was involved in the events
  • B.The account is fiction
  • C.The writer is guessing
6.Which account would you use to know what the night was like?
  • A.Neither
  • B.The secondhand report
  • C.The firsthand diary
7.Which is most likely to be secondhand?
  • A.A letter written the same week
  • B.A report written years later from records
  • C.A photograph taken at the time
8.What can a secondhand account give that a firsthand one usually cannot?
  • A.Personal feelings
  • B.Direct speech
  • C.The whole picture, including what one person could not see

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.It is written by somebody who was there
  2. 2.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered
  3. 3.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  4. 4.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  5. 5.The writer was involved in the events
  6. 6.The firsthand diary
  7. 7.A report written years later from records
  8. 8.The whole picture, including what one person could not see

More practice for RI.4.6

Compare an eyewitness account with a second-hand one.

Teaching this next? Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.4.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.