I could have won first prize

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keannu

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Does b always mean prizes by ranking while a means the order of awarding?

a)I could have won the first prize
b)I could have won first prize.
 

Tdol

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A) could be either IMO- it's another one for the context.
 

keannu

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BobSmith

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[not a teacher]

Tdol means that one can't tell the meaning, without additional context (information surrounding the statements).

To me, I think you are correct, except I would remove "always", because context matters.
 
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