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1) I want to ask about the room which was the end point for the book (e.g. To what room the book was taken?)

assertion: The book was taken to that room

question:

Where was the book taken

2) I want to ask about origin place, from what room the book was taken to this room

assertion: The book was taken to that room

question:

Where the book was taken?

3) Compound 'wh' questions

from the first example:

Do you know where the book was taken?

from the second example:

Do you know where the book was taken? (exactly the same)

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If you change the word order, as in question 2, it ceases to be a question.

The easiest way to specify exactly what you want to know is to use a preposition:

1) Where was the book taken to?
2) Where was the book taken from?
3a) Do you know where the book was taken to?
3b) Do you know where the book was taken from?

Some people may complain about the dangling preposition in these sentences, bur really there is nothing wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition.

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  • I think what OP needs to become better informed about is the matter of subject/verb inversion in actual questions (but not in wh- clauses), rather than anything to do with dangling prepositions (which can easily be avoided with Do you know from where it was taken?, for example, though I see no reason to avoid the alternative either).
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 15, 2017 at 17:52
  • ...of course, there's always Do you know whence it was taken?, but I suspect even many native speakers might misunderstand that and tell you where it ended up, not where it started from.
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 15, 2017 at 18:12

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