The foot-migraine sentence (Sally has a migraine in her foot) is ambiguous:

*  If it answers the question, "In what organ does Sally have a migraine?," the
prepositional phrase is adverbial.  She has it in her foot.

*  If it answers the question, "What ailment does Sally have?," the
prepositional phrase modifies the noun "migraine."  It's a migraine in her
foot.

By the way, is this a medical condition of which I was not previously aware?

Dick Veit

Richard Henry wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here's a sentence my class in American English Grammar has been kicking
> about:
>
>    Sally has a migraine in her foot.
>
> The questions have swirled around the function of "has", the role of the
> noun phrase "a migraine" and the role of "in her foot" in the sentence.
> Complications have invoked the indefinite article and the possessive
> pronoun.
>
> 1.  Is "in her foot" functioning as an adverbial modifying has? or as an
> adjective modifying migraine?
> Initial arguments opted for adverb because the phrase clearly answers where
> the "having" is.
> However, we've also considered the following:
>     Sally has a migraine.
>     The migraine is in her foot.
>     Sally has a migraine THAT is in her foot.
>     Sally has a migraine in her foot.
> This suggests the prepositional phrase is functioning as an adjective.
> One student has (albeit cautiously) suggested that the phrase 'in her foot'
> is close to 'of her foot' or 'of the foot' -- i.e. that we have a genetive
> construction: Sally has a foot migraine.
>
> 2. Is "has" in this case functioning as a linking or as a transitive verb?
> Those arguing for transitive make a powerful case for 'a migraine' as a
> direct object.
> However, the counter-argument suggests that a migraine is an attribute of
> Sally, in a way that a shoe is not.  So 'Sally has a shoe on her foot'
> would be a transitive (with 'on her foot' functioning as an adverb....)
>
> We were on our way to complicating the matter with the addition of the
> clause: 'which is all in her mind.'
>     Sally has a migraine in her foot which is all in her mind.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rick Henry
> SUNY Potsdam