Everything from the 2 lessons of this topic on a few pages: the key idea of each lesson, the diagram to remember, the points to learn and the traps examiners set. Read it, cover it, test yourself.
An acid HA is strong when its anion A− is stable, so the order of acidity follows the stability of the anion. In an alkoxide ion, RO−, the alkyl group is electron-donating: it pushes extra electron density onto the already negative oxygen, which destabilises the ion. So alcohols (pKa about 16) are slightly weaker acids than water (pKa 15.7), and much weaker than phenol (pKa 10.0), whose charge is delocalised into the ring. The order is ethanol < water < phenol < ethanoic acid. Alcohols react with acyl chlorides at room temperature to give esters and HCl: unlike esterification with a carboxylic acid, this needs no catalyst and is not reversible.
Alcohols are weaker acids than water, not stronger: the alkyl group is electron-donating and destabilises the alkoxide ion. Do not say the alkyl group ‘strengthens the O–H bond’ as the whole explanation; the mark is for the anion stability. With an acyl chloride the by-product is HCl, not water, and the reaction is not reversible and needs no acid catalyst.
Phenol, C6H5OH, is made by diazotising phenylamine with NaNO2 and HCl below 10 °C, then warming the diazonium salt with water, which releases N2. A lone pair on the O overlaps with the delocalised ring. This spreads the charge of the phenoxide ion into the ring, so phenol (pKa 10.0) is a weak acid: it reacts with Na and NaOH but is too weak to release CO2 from carbonates. The same overlap raises the electron density of the ring, activating it at the 2-, 4- and 6-positions: phenol decolourises bromine water at room temperature to give a white precipitate of 2,4,6-tribromophenol, is nitrated by dilute HNO3, and couples with diazonium salts to give azo dyes. Phenol forms esters with acyl chlorides, not with carboxylic acids.
Phenol does not react with carbonates: it is too weak an acid to release CO2, which is how it is told apart from a carboxylic acid. Bromine water gives 2,4,6-tribromophenol (three Br, 3HBr) with no halogen carrier. Nitration of phenol uses dilute HNO3 and gives a mixture of 2- and 4-nitrophenol. Esters of phenol are made with an acyl chloride, never by heating with a carboxylic acid.