I feel like this sentence is grammaticaly incorrect when saying it but I can't find the mistake, or I feel that i could put "at" at the end. So, what is the right thing? Is it the original sentence, or is there is really a mistake, or can i put an "at" at the end?
Learn English – I still remember the first time i listened to this song
sentence-construction
Related Solutions
If we start with the sentence:
"This is the first time I've touched a dolphin."
Then the correct way to 'rewrite' the sentence is to remain in the present perfect, ie
1a) This is my first time to have touched a dolphin.
2a) This is my first time having touched a dolphin.
Both sentences are grammatical. I greatly prefer 1a. It's hard to imagine saying 2a.
As for your original "rewrites"
1) This is my first time to touch a dolphin.
2) This is my first time touching a dolphin.
I also greatly prefer 1 here.
And neither 1 nor 2 have to be said at the moment of the touch. For example, if one is on a dolphin-spotting boat as part of an activity that lasts several hours, then either 1 and 2 can be said either before or after the actual touch, as part of talking about the entire experience that has (or is) lasting several hours. In addition, 1a can be said anytime after the actual touch. While, again, 2a seems to me unlikely to be said, and almost as unlikely to be written.
OK, here's the scoop on this usage: Please consider the utterance (I'm working with speech here).
A) the repetition of the preposition (stranding the preposition) is not needed:
1) declarative: I'm going to New York later this afternoon.
2) interrogative: Where are you going later this afternoon? Notice how the TO disappears in the question.
Ah, but then why do people say: Where are you going to [this afternoon]?
There are various answers. They are not educated speakers or they are sloppy speakers. The fact is that in the question to is not needed. That said, people do speak like that. Would a speaker like myself say it? Probably not. Except for emphasis: Where did you say you were going to?
Where are you going to?
Where to are you going?=not idiomatic or heard To where are you going?=not idiomatic
1) Declarative: He is at the game? [standard];
2) Interrogative: Where is he? The preposition, as with to above, is not needed.
3) Where's he at? or Where is he at? [marked as uneducated or dialectal, as in Black English or common varieties where people aren't really paying attention to their own speech]
At where is he? = not idiomatic, not heard
B) stranded prepositions (aka hanging prepositions)
Let's start with a declarative sentence: I'm writing about horror movies.
Interrogative (standard speech): What are you writing about?
Not repeating the object of the preposition is called preposition stranding and it is very common in spoken English and is used by native English speakers. /About what are you writing/ though grammatical would never be heard, really.
1) Declarative: This depends on the student's attitude:
2) Interrogative: standard speech: What does this depend on? More of a written form: On what does this depend? But, it could be said.
The last example: For whom are you doing this? Can be stranded in standard speech: Whom are you doing this for? Please note also that here /who/ is often used in place of /whom/ and is acceptable in some circles, but not in formal speech. However, the stranded preposition is fine.
Best Answer
The sentence is grammatically correct.
Would not be correct. You could feasibly say:
But it is not really idiomatic in this context. You sentence is fine as it stands. You don't need to use at when you are talking about an occasion rather than a clock based time.