Logical styles describe the function of a chunk of text, it's up to the browser to decide how that text should be displayed. You can emphasize an item, but it's up to the browser to decide how to make that item stand out on the page.
Physical styles tell the browser how you want particular text to be formatted (for example bold, italic).
Inline images are displayed inside the browser window, instead of in a separate window.
Although tables won't give you precise control over the layout of a page, you can use tables to format items in two dimensions.
Frames let you break an HTML window into several panes, each of which can display a different HTML file.
The Web is a great source of resources about HTML and the Web in general. If you're interested in plunging into Web topics, here are a few resources that you'll find helpful.
The Beginner's Guide to HTML is a great introduction to creating HTML documents, and is brought to you by the NCSA (National Center for Supercomputer Applications). The NCSA developed Mosaic, an early and still current Web browser. Some of the NCSA Mosaic developers branched off to found Netscape Communications and create the Netscape Navigator browser.
If you want a tutorial then the Beginner's Guide to HTML is a good choice, but if you want reference material, take a look at the HTML Reference Manual. The description here is focused on the structure of HTML, rather than HTML tags themselves. If you want information on specific tags, check out the list of tags at the same site.
The World Wide Web Consortium (known as the W3C) is responsible for setting standards for Web structure and content. If you want to know about the latest issues, and the W3C's official position this is the place to go. Here you'll find drafts of proposed standards and descriptions of current standards.