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The chancellor was present on both occasions.

Is the above sentence grammatically correct ? I thought it to be error free but then to confirm myself I googled for the sentence and found varying answers, somewhere its written to use at both occasions and somewhere I found to use both the occasions. I am pretty sure former correction is wrong but what about the later one ? Do we need to use article the here or its fine not to use it ?

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  • "both the occasions" is probably just a contraction of "both of the occasions". Adding some examples of various usages you are asking about would be helpful.
    – user3169
    Commented Jul 15, 2017 at 16:32

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Use either:

The chancellor was present on both occasions.
The chancellor was present on both of the occasions.

The difference of at vs. on has to do with the prepositions in general.
Here, on refers to the event, while at refers to the location.

I will see you on the occasion of my birthday party. (the activity itself)
I will see you at the birthday party. (where the party will be)

As you can see, on is more likely used with occasions.

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