Why is Entity Framework ignoring the Take() method when generating SQL?

Question

I am using the .Skip and .Take methods with Entity Framework. The .Skip call is being honored when generating the SQL. The .Take is not. This code:

        public IList<DocPullRun> GetDocRunsPaginated(int startRowIndex, int maximumRows) {

        Logger.Debug("GetDocRunsPaginated: startRowIndex: {0}, maximumRows: {1}", startRowIndex, maximumRows);
        Debug.Assert(startRowIndex >= 0);
        IOrderedQueryable<DocPullRun> sortedPulls = 
            from run in DB.DocPullRuns
                 .Include("DocumentPullDefinition")
                 .Include("DocumentPullDefinition.Case")
                 .Include("DocumentPullDefinition.DocCategory")
                 .Include("DocumentPullDefinition.Repository")
                 .Include("DocumentPullDefinition.Repository.ConcordanceRepository")

             orderby run.PullStarted descending
             select run;

        IQueryable<DocPullRun> query = sortedPulls.Skip(startRowIndex);
        if (maximumRows > 0)
            query.Take(maximumRows);

        return query.ToList();
    }

Results in this SQL shown below (note that in this call, startRowIndex is 0 and maximumRows is 10). The Where clause contains WHERE [Project1].[row_number] > 0 (which is the .Skip part), but I expected to see a Select TOP 10 but instead simply see a Select. The resulting list has more than 10 elements. Note that I ran SQL Trace and see that the SQL is indeed deferred and not actually sent until the last line: query.ToList(). Is this some type of bug?

    SELECT 
[Project1].[C1] AS [C1], 
[Project1].[Id] AS [Id], 
[Project1].[PullStarted] AS [PullStarted], 
[Project1].[PullEnded] AS [PullEnded], 
[Project1].[MatchedQuery] AS [MatchedQuery], 
[Project1].[NewDocs] AS [NewDocs], 
[Project1].[UpdatedDocs] AS [UpdatedDocs], 
[Project1].[DeletedDocs] AS [DeletedDocs], 
[Project1].[Errors] AS [Errors], 
[Project1].[C2] AS [C2], 
[Project1].[Id1] AS [Id1], 
[Project1].[Requestor] AS [Requestor], 
[Project1].[RequestTime] AS [RequestTime], 
[Project1].[Query] AS [Query], 
[Project1].[Enabled] AS [Enabled], 
[Project1].[LastPullTime] AS [LastPullTime], 
[Project1].[Case_ID] AS [Case_ID], 
[Project1].[Case_Name] AS [Case_Name], 
[Project1].[Client_ID] AS [Client_ID], 
[Project1].[Matter_ID] AS [Matter_ID], 
[Project1].[Is_Active] AS [Is_Active], 
[Project1].[Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions] AS [Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions], 
[Project1].[Last_Update] AS [Last_Update], 
[Project1].[C3] AS [C3], 
[Project1].[Category_ID] AS [Category_ID], 
[Project1].[CategoryName] AS [CategoryName], 
[Project1].[DefaultGridLayout] AS [DefaultGridLayout], 
[Project1].[C4] AS [C4], 
[Project1].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID], 
[Project1].[Description] AS [Description], 
[Project1].[OfficeAbbr] AS [OfficeAbbr], 
[Project1].[C5] AS [C5], 
[Project1].[Repository_ID1] AS [Repository_ID1], 
[Project1].[ConcordanceDBId] AS [ConcordanceDBId], 
[Project1].[Repository_ID2] AS [Repository_ID2], 
[Project1].[RepositoryType_Id] AS [RepositoryType_Id]
FROM ( SELECT [Project1].[Id] AS [Id], [Project1].[PullStarted] AS [PullStarted], [Project1].[PullEnded] AS [PullEnded], [Project1].[MatchedQuery] AS [MatchedQuery], [Project1].[NewDocs] AS [NewDocs], [Project1].[UpdatedDocs] AS [UpdatedDocs], [Project1].[DeletedDocs] AS [DeletedDocs], [Project1].[Errors] AS [Errors], [Project1].[Id1] AS [Id1], [Project1].[Requestor] AS [Requestor], [Project1].[RequestTime] AS [RequestTime], [Project1].[Query] AS [Query], [Project1].[Enabled] AS [Enabled], [Project1].[LastPullTime] AS [LastPullTime], [Project1].[Case_ID] AS [Case_ID], [Project1].[Case_Name] AS [Case_Name], [Project1].[Client_ID] AS [Client_ID], [Project1].[Matter_ID] AS [Matter_ID], [Project1].[Is_Active] AS [Is_Active], [Project1].[Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions] AS [Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions], [Project1].[Last_Update] AS [Last_Update], [Project1].[Category_ID] AS [Category_ID], [Project1].[CategoryName] AS [CategoryName], [Project1].[DefaultGridLayout] AS [DefaultGridLayout], [Project1].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID], [Project1].[Description] AS [Description], [Project1].[OfficeAbbr] AS [OfficeAbbr], [Project1].[Repository_ID1] AS [Repository_ID1], [Project1].[ConcordanceDBId] AS [ConcordanceDBId], [Project1].[Repository_ID2] AS [Repository_ID2], [Project1].[RepositoryType_Id] AS [RepositoryType_Id], [Project1].[C1] AS [C1], [Project1].[C2] AS [C2], [Project1].[C3] AS [C3], [Project1].[C4] AS [C4], [Project1].[C5] AS [C5], row_number() OVER (ORDER BY [Project1].[PullStarted] DESC) AS [row_number]
 FROM ( SELECT 
  [Extent1].[Id] AS [Id], 
  [Extent1].[PullStarted] AS [PullStarted], 
  [Extent1].[PullEnded] AS [PullEnded], 
  [Extent1].[MatchedQuery] AS [MatchedQuery], 
  [Extent1].[NewDocs] AS [NewDocs], 
  [Extent1].[UpdatedDocs] AS [UpdatedDocs], 
  [Extent1].[DeletedDocs] AS [DeletedDocs], 
  [Extent1].[Errors] AS [Errors], 
  [Extent2].[Id] AS [Id1], 
  [Extent2].[Requestor] AS [Requestor], 
  [Extent2].[RequestTime] AS [RequestTime], 
  [Extent2].[Query] AS [Query], 
  [Extent2].[Enabled] AS [Enabled], 
  [Extent2].[LastPullTime] AS [LastPullTime], 
  [Extent3].[Case_ID] AS [Case_ID], 
  [Extent3].[Case_Name] AS [Case_Name], 
  [Extent3].[Client_ID] AS [Client_ID], 
  [Extent3].[Matter_ID] AS [Matter_ID], 
  [Extent3].[Is_Active] AS [Is_Active], 
  [Extent3].[Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions] AS [Requires_Case_Specific_Permissions], 
  [Extent3].[Last_Update] AS [Last_Update], 
  [Extent4].[Category_ID] AS [Category_ID], 
  [Extent4].[CategoryName] AS [CategoryName], 
  [Extent5].[DefaultGridLayout] AS [DefaultGridLayout], 
  [Extent6].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID], 
  [Extent6].[Description] AS [Description], 
  [Extent6].[OfficeAbbr] AS [OfficeAbbr], 
  [Extent9].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID1], 
  [Extent9].[ConcordanceDBId] AS [ConcordanceDBId], 
  [Extent12].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID2], 
  [Extent13].[RepositoryType_Id] AS [RepositoryType_Id], 
  1 AS [C1], 
  1 AS [C2], 
  1 AS [C3], 
  1 AS [C4], 
  1 AS [C5]
  FROM           [dbo].[DocPullRuns] AS [Extent1]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[DocumentPullDefinitions] AS [Extent2] ON [Extent1].[DocumentPullDefinitionId] = [Extent2].[Id]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[Cases] AS [Extent3] ON [Extent2].[CaseId] = [Extent3].[Case_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[DocCategories] AS [Extent4] ON [Extent2].[CategoryId] = [Extent4].[Category_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[DocCategories] AS [Extent5] ON [Extent2].[CategoryId] = [Extent5].[Category_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[Repositories] AS [Extent6] ON [Extent2].[RepositoryId] = [Extent6].[Repository_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN  (SELECT [Extent7].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID3], [Extent7].[RepositoryType_Id] AS [RepositoryType_Id], [Extent7].[Description] AS [Description], [Extent7].[OfficeAbbr] AS [OfficeAbbr], [Extent8].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID4], [Extent8].[ConcordanceDBId] AS [ConcordanceDBId]
   FROM  [dbo].[Repositories] AS [Extent7]
   LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[ConcordanceRepositories] AS [Extent8] ON [Extent7].[Repository_ID] = [Extent8].[Repository_ID] ) AS [Join6] ON [Extent2].[RepositoryId] = [Join6].[Repository_ID3]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[ConcordanceRepositories] AS [Extent9] ON [Join6].[Repository_ID4] = [Extent9].[Repository_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN  (SELECT [Extent10].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID5], [Extent10].[RepositoryType_Id] AS [RepositoryType_Id], [Extent10].[Description] AS [Description], [Extent10].[OfficeAbbr] AS [OfficeAbbr], [Extent11].[Repository_ID] AS [Repository_ID6], [Extent11].[ConcordanceDBId] AS [ConcordanceDBId]
   FROM  [dbo].[Repositories] AS [Extent10]
   LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[ConcordanceRepositories] AS [Extent11] ON [Extent10].[Repository_ID] = [Extent11].[Repository_ID] ) AS [Join9] ON [Extent2].[RepositoryId] = [Join9].[Repository_ID5]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[ConcordanceRepositories] AS [Extent12] ON [Join9].[Repository_ID6] = [Extent12].[Repository_ID]
  LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[Repositories] AS [Extent13] ON [Extent2].[RepositoryId] = [Extent13].[Repository_ID]
 )  AS [Project1]
)  AS [Project1]
WHERE [Project1].[row_number] > 0
ORDER BY [Project1].[PullStarted] DESC

Answer 1

query.Take() doesn't mutate query; rather, it returns a new expression, which your code ignores. So change your code to:

if (maximumRows > 0)
    query = query.Take(maximumRows);