In the passage from "Marriage is a Private Affair," by Chinua Achebe, Nene's father's letter to his son is extremely formal, as if he were applying for a job or writing a letter of recommendation to a superior. In fact, his language contains a convention of etiquette which is suitable for a ceremonial or official situation - not to communicate a message to his son. For instance, he does not use contractions and makes use of an elegant vocabulary choice to describe the qualities of the girl he has chosen to marry his son, which is not typically used in informal writing.
