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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 7 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.The secondhand report
  • B.The firsthand diary
  • C.Neither
2.What makes an account firsthand?
  • A.It is longer
  • B.It is written by somebody who was there
  • C.It is written first
3.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
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.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
6.Which is most likely to be firsthand?
  • A.A textbook chapter
  • B.An encyclopaedia article
  • C.A diary entry written that night
7.What can a secondhand account give that a firsthand one usually cannot?
  • A.Direct speech
  • B.The whole picture, including what one person could not see
  • C.Personal feelings
8.Why might two accounts of one event disagree?
  • A.Accounts are always identical
  • B.One of them must be lying
  • C.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered

LessonPrint · RI.4.6 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Firsthand and Secondhand

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The firsthand diary
  2. 2.It is written by somebody who was there
  3. 3.What it felt like to be there
  4. 4.A report written years later from records
  5. 5.No — each supplies what the other cannot
  6. 6.A diary entry written that night
  7. 7.The whole picture, including what one person could not see
  8. 8.Each saw a different part and thought different things mattered

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.