A wife oft berates poor husband for worthless talk (5,2,6)

I believe the answer is:

waste of breath

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'worthless talk' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'a wife oft berates poor husband' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'husband' becomes 'h'.
'a'+'w'+'oft'+'berates'='awoftberates'
'awoftberates' anagrammed gives 'wasteofbreat'.
'wasteofbreat'+'h'='WASTE OF BREATH'

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.