This paper is motivated by the search for natural extensions of classical uniform space results to quasi-uniform spaces. As instances of such extensions we restate some theorems of P. Fletcher and W.F. Lindgren [Pacific J. Math. 43 (1971), 619–6311 on transitive quasi-uniformities and of S. Salbany [Thesis, Univ. Cape Town, 1971] on compactification and completion. The theorems as restated describe properties of certain right inverses of the functor which forgets the quasi-uniform structure and retains one induced topology (for Fletcher and Lindgren's work), respectively retains both induced topologies (for Salbany's work). Accordingly we investigate systematically the process by which the right inverses of the forgetful functors can be extended from the classical setting to one of these settings, and from one of these to the other.