Learn Spanish (Spain): El señor prefiere aquel abrigo negro. - The gentleman prefers that black coat over there.

In Spanish, distance matters! Use ese for something near the person you are talking to (that coat by you). Use aquel for something far away from both of you, which is why it usually translates to "that... over there."

I thought the masculine form of "that over there" would end in "o", like aquello. Why is it aquel?

That is a very common trap! The masculine singular form used before a specific noun is aquel (matching the masculine noun abrigo). aquello is a neuter pronoun used only for abstract concepts, general situations, or unknown things, never to describe a specific noun like a coat.

Why is the verb prefiere spelled with an "ie" instead of just matching the infinitive preferir?

preferir is a stem-changing verb. For he/she/it forms in the present tense, the second e in the stem changes to ie. That is why it becomes prefiere instead of "prefere".

Why does the adjective negro come after abrigo, but aquel comes before it?

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like colors (negro) almost always come directly after the noun they describe (abrigo). Demonstrative adjectives like aquel, however, act like pointers and come before the noun.