Q. I’ve been told not to refer to the object of a preposition with a pronoun, as in “In the article by Frank Bruni, he claims . . .” Should this instead be “In the article by Frank Bruni, Bruni claims . . .”?
A. The first version is open to ambiguity: “he” might refer to someone other than Bruni who is quoted by Bruni in the article. To avoid the awkward repetition (“Bruni, Bruni”) in the corrected version, you could reword: “In his opinion piece for the New York Times, Frank Bruni claims . . .” You will want to more fully identify the article by date and title elsewhere, either in the text or in a note. However, there is no general rule that the object of a preposition can’t subsequently be referred to with a pronoun. For example, “When I spoke to Frank Bruni, he confirmed . . .” Just make sure the meaning is clear.