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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 21 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.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
3.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
4.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
5.Which is most likely to be firsthand?
  • A.A textbook chapter
  • B.An encyclopaedia article
  • C.A diary entry written that night
6.What can a firsthand account give that a secondhand one usually cannot?
  • A.A balanced overview
  • B.What it felt like to be there
  • C.Accurate totals
7.Why might two accounts of one event disagree?
  • A.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered
  • B.One of them must be lying
  • C.Accounts are always identical
8.Which account would you use to know what the night was like?
  • A.Neither
  • B.The firsthand diary
  • C.The secondhand report

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.A report written years later from records
  2. 2.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  3. 3.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  4. 4.The writer was involved in the events
  5. 5.A diary entry written that night
  6. 6.What it felt like to be there
  7. 7.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered
  8. 8.The firsthand diary

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.