Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 9-10

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Here is one account of a school science fair: 'I set my volcano on the table and my hands were shaking. When the foam came over the top, the whole row of kids cheered.' What kind of account is this?
- Secondhand, because it is about a school event
- Firsthand, because the writer is the one who set up the volcano
- Neither, because it does not give a date
A letter written by a soldier while he was fighting in a battle is an example of...
- a firsthand account
- a secondhand account
- neither account
A secondhand account is written by someone who experienced the event themselves.
Circle one: True False
Which of these is a secondhand account of the American Revolution?
- A diary kept by a soldier who fought in the war
- A history textbook written 200 years later
- A letter written home during a battle
A diary entry about a flood describes how scared the writer felt and the exact smell of the water. A textbook passage about the same flood lists the date and the number of homes destroyed. Which detail would you expect ONLY in the diary?
- The writer's fear and the smell of the water
- The date of the flood
- The number of homes destroyed
A man who lived in the next town on the day of a train crash later wrote a book about it, using newspaper reports. His book is a secondhand account.
Circle one: True False
Read this account: 'The library got two hundred new books last month, the librarian said.' The writer of this account saw the books arrive.
Circle one: True False
You want to write about what a night on a snowed-in train felt like. Which account helps you most?
- A report listing the date, the number of passengers and how long the line stayed shut
- A map of the railway line
- A passenger's own story about the cold seats and the songs they sang to stay awake
Ravi read one account of a flood written by a man who swam out of his own house, and another written by a reporter who walked the whole town a month later. Ravi says the man's account must tell him more about the flood, because the man was really there. What would you tell Ravi?
- The man's account is the only one worth reading
- The reporter's account cannot be trusted, because the reporter arrived late
- The man's account tells more about his own street, but the reporter's account can cover the whole town
A newspaper writer stayed at home during the storm. Her report says: 'Mr Osei told us, "I watched the roof lift off my shed."' Is her report firsthand or secondhand?
- Firsthand, because the report uses the word I
- Secondhand, because the word I belongs to Mr Osei and the writer is passing on what he said
- Firsthand, because the writer knows Mr Osei

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts W1-mt_j32D5DZX7x-s1

Firsthand, because the writer is the one who set up the volcano · The account says 'I set my volcano' and 'my hands were shaking', so the writer was the one standing at the table. That makes it firsthand.
a firsthand account · The soldier experienced the battle himself and wrote about it at the time, so it's a firsthand account.
False · Secondhand accounts are written by researchers who did not experience the event. That's what makes them secondhand.
A history textbook written 200 years later · The textbook author wasn't there. They researched the war from many sources long after it happened.
The writer's fear and the smell of the water · Only the diary writer felt the fear and smelled the water. The date and the number of homes are gathered facts, more likely to appear in the textbook.
True · He was alive on the day, but he was not at the crash. He built the book out of reports other people wrote, and that is what makes it secondhand.
False · The account ends with 'the librarian said', so the writer was told the news instead of watching the delivery.
A passenger's own story about the cold seats and the songs they sang to stay awake · Only somebody who sat on that train through the night can tell you about the cold seats and the singing. For how something felt, go to a firsthand account.
The man's account tells more about his own street, but the reporter's account can cover the whole town · Being there gives you deep detail about one place. It does not hand you the whole event. The reporter came later and could collect what happened everywhere.
Secondhand, because the word I belongs to Mr Osei and the writer is passing on what he said · The I inside the quotation marks is Mr Osei speaking. The writer stayed at home and repeated what he told her, so her report is secondhand.