I just finished Japanese level 2 in college, which as I have come to understand is ~the most important~ and I came away with quite a lot of questions.
We learned about relative clauses and something my teacher referred to as a "sentential modifier" and they seem very similar, but clearly have different functions. Hoping someone could help.
コーヒーを飲んでいる男の人です。
the man drinking coffee
So as I understand this is an example of a relative clause (i.e. the preceding clause modifies the noun). However, when my sensei brought up a "sentential modifier" she kind of glossed over it. But here was the sentence
これは私が使う水です。
That is the water I use.
So, these things are pretty similar, but I was hoping someone could clarify this for me. Both sentences use the short form of verbs and no particle between the verb and the ~leading~ noun.
If these are both correct, how commonly are clauses/sentences like this used? Are there any "rules" about use of particles in these instances?