On a crowded bus at midday the narrator observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately When a seat is vacated the first man takes it Later in another part of town the man is spotted again while being advised by a friend to have another button sewn onto his overcoat Exercises in Style retells this apparently unremarkable tale ninety-nine times employing a variety of styles ranging from sonnet to cockney to mathematical formula Too funny to be merely a pedantic thesis this virtuoso set of themes & variations is a linguistic rustremover a guide to literary forms & a demonstration of imagery & inventiveness