The article is a study of the formation of a methodology for studying the stylistics of the Russian language. The goal is to trace the origin of the methodology for studying stylistics in the works of authors who chose it as the subject of their research. In the course of the work, in the process of studying various sources of information, it became known that many scholars-philologists turned to this topic, for example: V.V. Vinogradov, A.I. Efimov, M.N. Lotina, A.N. Veselovsky, A.A. Potebnya and many others. Stylistics received the status of an independent science in the XX century, at the same time, its study was of interest to people much earlier. Particular attention is paid to the exercise systems of T.I. Chizhova and S.N. Ikonnikov, designed to study the stylistic features of the text. S.N. Ikonnikov drew attention to the combination of analytical and creative exercises. The system of exercises developed by T.I. Chizhova. There are two types of exercises in her system: exercises to observe the use of phonetic, lexical and other means of speech; exercises to observe speech styles and their key features. Noteworthy is the fact that T.I. Chizhova is assigned a special role as a stylistic exercise in her didactic complex. It includes the following types of exercises: exercises for the analysis and study of individual sections of science related to language (phonetics, vocabulary, etc.); exercises for mastering certain stylistic principles of the language and in its sections; exercises for teaching coherent speech; exercises for understanding the norms, characteristics of individual styles of speech (scientific, journalistic, etc.).