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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 3 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 account would you use to know what the night was like?
  • A.Neither
  • B.The firsthand diary
  • C.The secondhand report
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.A firsthand account says "I was the one who said it was nothing." What does the "I" tell you?
  • A.The writer is guessing
  • B.The account is fiction
  • C.The writer was involved in the events
4.What makes an account firsthand?
  • A.It is written by somebody who was there
  • B.It is written first
  • C.It is longer
5.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
6.Should a historian use only one kind of account?
  • A.Yes, firsthand only
  • B.Yes, secondhand only
  • C.No — each supplies what the other cannot
7.Which is most likely to be firsthand?
  • A.A diary entry written that night
  • B.A textbook chapter
  • C.An encyclopaedia article
8.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

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 3. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.