Need help understanding passing pointers

[lightbulb101069]

I am new to C++, and I am reading the book "Beginning C++ Through Game Programming", by Michael Dawson (2011). The book is wonderful, it really helped me understand a lot, but there is something I am not understanding fully.
Here is the code snippet:

  string* ptrToElement(vector<string>* const pVec, int i
  {
     //returns address of the string in position i of vector that pVec points to
     return &((*pVec)[i]);
  }

The return statement is what my question is about. I understand what this code means. It essentially says "Return the address of the information stored in position i of the vector pVec points to". I understand what this means, what it does, and how it works, but I thought that the following code would do the same thing:

  return pVec[i];

But it doesn't compile! I do not understand. It seems to me that this statement means "return the pointer to element i of Vec", or something like that. In other words, as I understand things, it seems to me that in the first code snippet, returning the address of a value stored in a variable pointed to would be the same thing as simply returning the pointer to that variable itself, since that's what a pointer is. In other words, since the pointer pVec[i] contains the address of the information stored in that location, wouldn't simply returning pVec[i] (which is a pointer) be the same thing?

Obviously not, but why?

I also tried

return &pVec[i];

But once again, it does not compile.

What is the difference and what am I missing? I hope this question makes sense, I'm sure I sound like an utter newbie! Any help you can give would be great! If I didn't explain my question well, please feel free to ask questions to help me clarify. I want to understand C++ completely! Thanks in advance!

[abhishekm71]

pVec is a pointer to a vector<string> not a pointer to the 1st element of an array.

Hence, IMHO pVec[i] does not mean anything.

[HEDO4EJIOBEK]

Haven't you forgotten to write ")" in the end of the first line? And why do you need pointer to element?

[lightbulb101069]

@HEDO4EJIOBEK:
Yes, I did forget the ")" at the end of the first line, thank you for pointing that out, although in the actual program, it is there.
I didn't write the program, I just copied it out of the book, and the author used the pointer to element. I'm just trying to understand it completely.

@abhishekm71:
Thank you for your help! I had thought of that, but didn't know for sure. That makes sense, thank you!