1.

Briefly describe the characteristics of old English

The characteristics of Old English or Anglo-Saxon literature :
 In grammar, Old English is chiefly distinguished from later stages in the history of
English by greater use of a larger set of inflections in verbs, nouns, adjectives, and
pronouns, and also (connected with this) by a rather less fixed word order; it also
preserves grammatical gender in nouns and adjectives.ex: The following couple of
lines from Ælfric’s De temporibus anni:‘Ðunor cymð of hætan & of wætan. Seo
lyft tyhð þone wætan to hire neoðan & ðahætan ufan.’ may be translated word-for-
word as: Thunder comes from heat and from moisture. The air draws the moisture
to it from below and the heat from above.

 In vocabulary, Old English is much more homogeneous than later stages in the
history of English. Some borrowings from Latin date back to before the coming of
the Anglo-Saxons to Britain (i.e. they were borrowed on the continent), while
many others date from the period of the conversion to Christianity and later. For a
very few examples see I pron. and n.², one adj., n., and pron., and conj.¹, adv.,
and n., man n.¹ (and int.), woman n.

2. What type of phonological change happens when: OE forst becomes ModE frost?

OE handwyrst becomes ModE wrist? OE = Old English; ModE (Modern English)
Types of phonological change happens when OE forst become ModE frost and OE handwyrst
becomes ModE is metathesis (and semantic narrowing of wrist)