"Gossiped away" means the same thing as "gossiped", essentially. The "away" emphasizes that the gossiping is uninterrupted. The cat is staring at mister dursley, she's returning his stare, giving it back to him, essentially. This is a pretty common usage. For example: "He kissed me, so I kissed him back." Yes, the "nerve of him" is an idiom. It's exclamatory in tone, and expresses outrage at a person's behavior. "Single" here means that he couldn't see any collecting tin at all, not even a single one.

1) You are essentially right but 'gossip' means 'casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true' whereas 'chat' means 'talk in a friendly and informal way. She was talking about the neighbours in this instance. 2) The cat did indeed look back at Mr Dursley. Think of two boxers staring at each other before their contest. 3) 'The nerve of him' he had the boldness to do something that people would think he would not do. 4) You are correct, no collecting tins could be seen at all. He could not see any. Well done for some excellent English

1. Yes, both of those actions happened at the same time. "Gossiping" is talking about someone else while they are not there, usually in a mean way. 2. "It stared back" means that it looked at him without taking its eyes off of him. "Back" is used here because the cat is doing the same thing as Mr. Dursley. 3. Yes, this is an Enlgish idiom. It is used to show indignation at a person, usually when the person has been rude. "Nerve" is also an informal way of saying "courage" or "daring." 4. Yes, it means that he couldn't see any collecting tin at all. The word "single" is used to emphasize the point that there were no collecting tins.

Thank you for your help! Can I use "the nerve of me" if I talk about myself? I understood the meaning of word "single". It reminds me the song with the phase like "every single day of my life". I guess that it has the same meaning

1."Gossiped away", means to speak about others or of rumors that you have heard, whether true or not. She as a story character was incli ed to speak about others and she had a tendency to do it very often. 2.The cat didn't look away when she stared at it. Most cats, most animals do not "stare back" unless they are brave, bold or aggressive. Lions might "stare back" at you because they want you for lunch! 3.The nerve of him, is a fairly common phrase used in english that indicates a displeasure from someone who does something unexpectedly bold or brash. When someone is rude in a formal social setting you may hear someone say this expession. 4.Exactly! If I were to look in the cupboard and usually expect to see many tins of food stored there, but saw none at all, I might say,...I didn't even see a single tin. It comes into use when someone is i dicati g being surprized at an occurance of finding less than usual.