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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 22 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 written by somebody who was there
  • B.It is longer
  • C.It is written first
2.Which account would you use to find out how many houses flooded?
  • A.The diary, which gives one house
  • B.Neither
  • C.The secondhand report, which gives totals
3.Should a historian use only one kind of account?
  • A.Yes, firsthand only
  • B.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  • C.Yes, secondhand only
4.Which is most likely to be secondhand?
  • A.A photograph taken at the time
  • B.A letter written the same week
  • C.A report written years later from records
5.A firsthand account says "I was the one who said it was nothing." What does the "I" tell you?
  • A.The account is fiction
  • B.The writer was involved in the events
  • C.The writer is guessing
6.Which is most likely to be firsthand?
  • A.An encyclopaedia article
  • B.A textbook chapter
  • C.A diary entry written that night
7.Which account would you use to know what the night was like?
  • A.The secondhand report
  • B.Neither
  • C.The firsthand diary
8.What can a firsthand account give that a secondhand one usually cannot?
  • A.Accurate totals
  • B.What it felt like to be there
  • C.A balanced overview

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.