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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 24 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 firsthand?
  • A.A diary entry written that night
  • B.A textbook chapter
  • C.An encyclopaedia article
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.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
4.Which account would you use to know what the night was like?
  • A.Neither
  • B.The firsthand diary
  • C.The secondhand report
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.What makes an account firsthand?
  • A.It is written first
  • B.It is longer
  • C.It is written by somebody who was there
7.What can a firsthand account give that a secondhand one usually cannot?
  • A.What it felt like to be there
  • B.Accurate totals
  • C.A balanced overview
8.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

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.A diary entry written that night
  2. 2.The secondhand report, which gives totals
  3. 3.A report written years later from records
  4. 4.The firsthand diary
  5. 5.The writer was involved in the events
  6. 6.It is written by somebody who was there
  7. 7.What it felt like to be there
  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.