Answer:
Lots of students go to college in their teens every year
unless you are going formal and would use 'plenty of'
You chose the right answer
Even though you didn't bold the noun clauses, it is still obvious which ones they are in these sentences.
1. The noun clause is <em>what I saw in the closet. </em>The function that this noun clause performs is subject. Subject of a sentence is what performs a particular action - in this case, the subject (or the entire noun clause) has left the narrator speechless. If it's confusing, you can replace the clause with a simple pronoun <em>it - </em>It left me speechless, and then it's easier to see it is indeed a subject.
2. The noun clause is <em>how to swim. </em>The function that this noun clause performs is direct object. Direct objects answer the questions <em>whom </em>or <em>what - </em>in this case, you can simply ask - What did I learn when I was six? And the answer would be that entire noun clause - <em>how to swim. </em>
3. The noun clauses here are <em>what my conscience was telling me </em>and <em>what I wanted to do. </em>The function that these noun clauses are performing is object of a preposition. Object of a preposition is really easy to spot - it is a word, phrase, or an entire clause which is located right after a preposition. In this example, the word <em>between </em>is a preposition, and the clauses following it are its objects.
4. The noun clause here is <em>what kept me awake all night. </em>The function that this noun clause performs is predicative nominative. A predicative nominative is a noun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause that is found after a linking verb in a sentence. A linking verb connects two parts of a sentence - here, that verb is <em>is </em>and the clause following it is its nominative.
At the very beginning of the novel, he is curious and has a thirst for knowledge, but half-way through he goes through a state of despair where he feels that nothing can go right for him again.
