Can pronoun's antecedant be found in a prepositional phrase?

[kristen.li]

Can antecedent of a pronoun be found in a prepositional phrase? Can ANY NOUN in the sentence act as an antecedent, whether it's the subject, object, in the prepositional phrase, in a modifier?

If that's true, then "parents" in a sentence " ... parents' responsibilities..." cannot be an antecedent simply because it's not a noun...and not because it's a modifier?

thanks

[tim]

i would say that 99% of the time you are not going to reach inside a prepositional phrase for an antecedent if the pronoun is not also inside a prepositional phrase. no guarantees that the GMAT won't change this up on you, but 99% seems like pretty good odds to me. :) as for your second question, it sounds like you're making an irrelevant distinction; the main thing to keep in mind is that subject or object pronouns must refer back to a subject or object noun, and a word like "parents'" that has an apostrophe is instead a possessive noun..

[Zen]

According to the writings of Thorstein Veblen, the economist, the most reliable signal of a truly wealthy individual is his or her ability and willingness to engage in "conspicuous consumption""”to spend it in a way that is patently absurd or irrational.

(e) the economist Thorstein Veblen, the most reliable signal of true wealth is an individual's ability and willingness

Source : manhattan gmat cat exam SC

Tim,

In this question the "it" pronoun refers to " wealth" in a prepositional phrase . Can this answer choice be considered an exception to the rule ?

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

In general, it's best not to complicate the issue of pronouns.

If ...

1/
there's a noun that matches the pronoun (in terms of singular/plural),

2/
it's obvious, at a glance, which noun that is,

... then the pronoun is ok.

In this sentence, it's clear that "it" = "wealth", especially considering that the idea of "true wealth" is the central idea under discussion in the sentence.