I learned that a verb phrase modifying a noun should precede the noun with 的 in between, like this:
我还有很多要学习的东西。(I still have a lot to learn.)
However, I have seen some people speak like this:
我还有很多东西要学习。
So I was wondering what kind of grammatical structure is the second sentence? And if the second sentence is the correct one, are there any differences between the two sentences? Thank you.
People like variations in word order. The word order is not fixed forever. I don't think a proscriptive approach to grammar is helpful. In the end, natural language will win.
Like Marko commented, "as in the things need to study, which is obviously not the intended meaning of the sentence"
The basic sentence is:
我有东西。
【】is then an adjective.
我有【（我）要学习】的东西。
I have things I want to/must study
This below works because we know 东西 don't study, people study.
我有很多东西（我）要学习。
I have many things (that) I want to study.
Put a noun like 学生 in there that can study and the student is no longer 我:
我还有很多学生要学习（这门课程）。
I still have many students (who) want to study this course.
The two sentences have the same meaning, but the second one is more fluent and more polite. In Chinese we say the two sentence "妹有区别".
