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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 13 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.Which is most likely to be secondhand?
  • A.A report written years later from records
  • B.A letter written the same week
  • C.A photograph taken at the time
2.Which account would you use to find out how many houses flooded?
  • A.Neither
  • B.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  • C.The diary, which gives one house
3.Which is most likely to be firsthand?
  • A.A diary entry written that night
  • B.A textbook chapter
  • C.An encyclopaedia article
4.Should a historian use only one kind of account?
  • A.Yes, secondhand only
  • B.Yes, firsthand only
  • C.No — each supplies what the other cannot
5.What makes an account firsthand?
  • A.It is written first
  • B.It is written by somebody who was there
  • C.It is longer
6.What can a secondhand account give that a firsthand one usually cannot?
  • A.Personal feelings
  • B.The whole picture, including what one person could not see
  • C.Direct speech
7.What can a firsthand account give that a secondhand one usually cannot?
  • A.What it felt like to be there
  • B.A balanced overview
  • C.Accurate totals
8.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 writer is guessing
  • C.The account is fiction

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.A report written years later from records
  2. 2.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  3. 3.A diary entry written that night
  4. 4.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  5. 5.It is written by somebody who was there
  6. 6.The whole picture, including what one person could not see
  7. 7.What it felt like to be there
  8. 8.The writer was involved in the events

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.